UK buys more than 1,000 electric cars in Q3 2013

The UK’s Plug-in Car Grants (PiCG) had their best quarter ever from July through to September, this year with 1,149 new electric cars registered with the support of the £5,000 incentives.

While uptake was slow at first, mainly due to a lack of eligible models and low consumer awareness, momentum has been slowly building and in the last quarter, for the first time ever, more than 1,000 claims for grants were made in a single three-month period.

In Q3 of 2013, claims were up 25 per cent compared to the previous quarter as more consumers decided to make the switch to battery power.

When the grants were first launched nearly two years ago, just a couple of electric models were available including the Nissan LEAF and Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Since then, other cars have qualified for the grants, including; Chevrolet Volt, Vauxhall Ampera, Toyota Plug-in Hybrid, Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid, smart fortwo EV, Renault Fluence Z.E and Renault ZOE.

Sadly the growing popularity of the PiCGs is contrasted by a lack of interest in the Plug-in Van Grants, which launched in February 2012 and offer buyers of ultra-low emission vans a subsidy worth up to £8,000 towards their purchase. Between July and September, just 54 electric vans were registered through the scheme, with uptake falling some 27 per cent in the first half of the year, compared to the latter half of 2012. Between Jan and June this year, just 119 vans were registered compared to 163 in the July-December period of 2012.

Eligible vehicles for the Plug-in Van Grants include Mercedes Vito E-Cell, Renault Kangoo Z.E, Mia U, Faam Jolly 2000 and the Smith Edison van.

Total claims for both grants since the schemes launched now stand at over 6,000, with 5,702 cars and 364 vans registered, according to the Office of Low Emission Vehicles which runs the schemes.

The UK government intends to offer the grants until 2015, supported by a £400 million fund to promote ultra low carbon vehicles in the country.

To read more about the rise of electric vehicles in the USA click here