UK Offers Citizens Money For Buying Electric Cars
A new UK government proposal unveiled on Thursday would allow British motorists to receive up to 7,500 dollars if they buy an electric car, the AFP reported.
Britain ministers hope the plan will help meet the UK’s target of slashing carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
“We wanted electric cars to become a much more common sight on Britain’s streets,” said Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon.
He told the Guardian newspaper: "What we’ve got to get people used to is the idea that electric cars will become quite normal, quite usual, that it won’t be exceptional and, without being slightly unkind to existing electric vehicles, they won’t be slightly odd."
Additionally, some 20 million dollars are included in the plan to build more charging points and other infrastructure needed for people to use electric cars on a regular basis.
Business minister Peter Mandelson urged Britain’s auto industry — which has been hit hard by the world economic slowdown — "to be a leader in the low carbon future".
John Proctor, a spokesman for industry body Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), welcomed the announcement, adding that the car sector needed support to stay afloat in the short-term.
He suggested the key thing is that the industry is in the middle of its biggest-ever economic challenge.
"We need something in the short-term if we’re going to stake our claim in developing low-carbon technology in the medium and long-term," he added.
In next week’s annual budget, the government has also been asked by the SMMT to announce a scrappage scheme that would pay motorists to ditch old cars for new.
Ministers believe more electric and plug-in hybrid cars will be on the market by 2011, when the proposed incentives would be introduced.
Similar schemes have boosted new car sales in continental Europe.
In Germany, for example, car sales increased by 40% in March compared with a year earlier.
However, the scheme wouldn’t be introduced until Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s currently unpopular government winning the next general election next year.
The environment has become a focus for policies of the main opposition Conservatives, who have a double-digit lead in most opinion polls.
While financial support for electric cars is a step in the right direction, investment in public transport was also needed, according to environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth.
The group’s transport campaigner Tony Bosworth said electric cars are only as green as the electricity they run on.
“Ministers must do far more to boost the UK’s flagging renewable energy industry," he said.
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