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U.K.’s Electric-Car Market Stalls
British demand for electric cars totaled only about 2,600 units in January-August this year, less than half the volume sold in Norway or France in the same period, the Financial Times reports.
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British demand for electric cars totaled only about 2,600 units in January-August this year, less than half the volume sold in Norway or France in the same period, the Financial Times reports.
The newspaper blames the sluggish pace on laggardly spending by the U.K. government to meet its own targets for EV sales incentives and charging stations.
The government pledged to invest 400 million (€474 million) in infrastructure and incentives between 2010 and 2015. But it has spent or assigned to projects only about 134 million (€159 million), according to the FT.
EV buyers can collect a 5,000 (€5,900) rebate for their purchase. But the government has spent only a relatively modest 25 million (€30 million) on the program so far, the newspaper says. There are no national sales targets for EVs, and the government does not offer electrics as an option for its ministers.
The U.K. has installed about 5,000 public EV charging points, according to the FT. But it says only 220 are so-called rapid charger that can restore most of a battery's charge in about 20 minutes.
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