Coalition government remains committed to electric cars

Coalition government remains committed to electric cars

The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has reaffirmed that the current government is backing the use of electric vehicles, and that an end to the subsidies currently on offer has "no date in the diary".

This news was given as Nick Clegg helped to launch the Go Ultra Low campaign, an initiative to help spread the benefits of electric vehicles, backed with £2.5 million. An investment of £9 million was also announced, to enable additional charging points to be installed throughout the country, in an attempt to make journeys by motorway a reality for electric car users.

The use of hybrid and electric vehicles in the UK remains relatively low, but numbers are slowly increasing, especially with grants of between £5,000 and £8,000 available on new cars.

Nick Clegg commented that the objective of the government is to make sure that every vehicle in the country has either ultra low or zero emissions by the year 2040. This means that all cars will have to emit 75g/km CO2 or less in the next 25 years.

The 'Go Ultra Low' initiative is supported by Nissan, Renault, Toyota, Vauxhall and BMW, the five largest electric carmakers in the UK, and of course is being used as a launchpad to promote their current electric offerings. Such a venture by so many of the heavy hitters of the automotive marketplace is rare, and may go to show how much the electric car market in the UK needs boosting. The head of Nissan UK, Jim Wright, commented that he "...can't remember a time when manufacturers have worked together like this".

Of all vehicle sales in the UK in 2013, only 1.3% were classed as 'alternative fuel', which also covers hybrids such as the Toyota Prius. Clearly there is much work to be done to up these numbers.

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