The electric car industry has called on the government to introduce a subsidy for buyers of such vehicles earlier than planned.
A £5,000 subsidy for electric car purchasers is set to be available from 2011. But industry insiders said the deferred scheme had resulted in a “virtual evaporation” of the current UK market for electric cars, as consumers are delaying purchases until the subsidy becomes available.
David Martell, chief executive of the Electric Car Corporation (ECC), which fits out Citroen C1s with an electric powertrain at its plant in Bedfordshire, said: “We call on the government to introduce the subsidy for vehicles sooner rather than later. I hope it might happen next year but of course there is an election coming up.
“Most of our production is exported because the UK market is pretty dead,” added Martell. “Because these cars are built for the export market, however, we’re working flat out. But no one in the UK is making a decision on purchasing electric cars now when they know a cheaper deal awaits in 2011.”
The Bedfordshire plant has been producing around six Citroen electric ev’ie models a week. The ECC has recently set up a facility to assemble the car in Denmark, where the market is growing due to a favourable tax regime for electric vehicles. “We will expand Bedfordshire depending on demand but our feeling is to do most of our assembly in Denmark where the market is buoyant.”
The plant is supplying other European countries, especially Germany. It delivered 60 cars to this week’s climate change negotiations in Copenhagen. “We expect to produce between 500-1,000 cars next year,” Martell said. In Denmark there is a very high duty on petrol-engine vehicles, which can add up to 150% to the value of car. The duty on electric vehicles is zero.
The ECC is currently working on a number of confidential projects to convert other models to electric powertrains.
© PE Publishing, 9 December 2009
