Nissan has welcomed news that the UK government is to grant up to GBP5,000 (US$7,790) in electric vehicle incentives – albeit with several caveats.
The Japanese automaker has selected the UK city of Sunderland eventually to produce its Leaf vehicle and batteries from 2013. The model will be launched in Europe in December – with Japanese-made cars – initially in Portugal and the Netherlands followed by the UK and Ireland two months later.
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The previous UK Labour administration had inked in a GBP250m EV grant across five years, but the incoming coalition has slightly downgraded this to GBP43m until March 2012. The Leaf will be available in the UK from March next year with the GBP5,000 kicking in from January 2011.
“It [the subsidy] is slightly less,” conceded a Nissan spokeswoman to just-auto, “but in the first year there are not a huge number of electric vehicles available on the market.”
With incentives Nissan UK will sell its EV for GBP23,990 but this will include the increase in UK value added [sales] tax from the current 17.5% to 20% from 1 January.
“Our figures have not been finalised yet, but we hope to sell around 2,000 [Leafs in] the first year,” added the spokeswoman.
The UK government said the grant – for both private and fleet users – had been made available “exceptionally” ahead of the comprehensive spending review which is due to impose swingeing cuts across most UK departments.
However, manufacturers had been pressing for an early resolution in order to take decisions on where to launch ultra low-carbon vehicles and future production sites.
“We will review the level of the incentive regularly to ensure that the UK remains competitive and taxpayers get value for money,” said transport secretary Philip Hammond. “The first review will be in January 2012, at which point we will set the level for subsequent years.”
The grant will apply to electric, plug-in hybrid or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
A Plugged in Places initiative will also see the eventual installation of more than 11,000 charging posts in London, Milton Keynes and North East England.
