UK drivers are to receive a GBP5,000 (US$7,790) grant towards the purchase of electric vehicles after a review of previous spending commitments by the new British government saw the incentives given urgent priority.
Doubts had been cast that drivers would benefit from the generous subsidy following the initiation of the UK coalition government’s comprehensive spending review but confirmation today (28 July) of the grant will come as a relief to manufacturers.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Nissan’s electric Leaf vehicle – to be produced in the UK’s north east city of Sunderland from 2013 – will be launched in Europe in December and manufacturers have been lobbying the UK government for assistance.
“It [the grant] was up for review obviously leading up to the spending review [and] all spending commitments were being looked at across all departments,” a Department for Transport spokeswoman told just-auto.
“But this one in particular was looked at more quickly. Manufacturers and consumers wanted certainty on this incentive – it is a strategically important scheme – manufacturers were pressing for this to be confirmed.
The Renault Nissan alliance is spending EUR4bn (US$5.2bn) to develop and produce electric cars and batteries and predicts EVs will represent 10% of global car sales by 2020.
Yesterday, Nissan’s president and chief executive officer, Carlos Ghosn, said the alliance was aiming to hold 20% of the global market for electric vehicles in 2020.
In an interview with Kyodo News at Nissan’s head office in Yokohama, Ghosn said he expects the share of EVs in the global automobile market to be 10%, and out of that 10%, ”the minimum (market share) for us should be 20%.”
The company is also building a battery plant in Sunderland and another in Portugal.
Further details are expected from the government later.
