Electric vehicle take-up recovers in first half of 2012

This year’s figures were boosted by a further 99 claims made under the Government’s £8000 Plug-in Van Grant, which was launched at the beginning of 2012. This means a total of 1805 claims have been to date for both cars and vans through the Plug-in Grant, 913 of those in the first half of 2012 compared to 892 claims in the whole of 2011. 

Transport Minister Norman Baker said the figures were "broadly in line" with Government expectations and that a greater choice of low emission vehicle models should help sustain the growth going forward. 

"The UK is at the forefront of the electric vehicle revolution and I am confident that sales will increase further with the introduction of new plug-in vehicles to the market over the coming year," he said.

In January 2011, former Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, said "2011 could be remembered as the year the electric car took off" as he launched the Plug-in Car Grant, but that failed to materialise. Instead, the second half of 2011 saw a slump in electric vehicle sales, when just 212 claims were made through the Plug-in Car Grant compared to 680 in the first half.

However, this year has seen the launch of the Plug-in Van Grant, through which seven electric vans can benefit from up to £8000 off the cost of their retail price. Meanwhile, the introduction of new electric and hybrid car models such as the Renault Flunece Ze and Vauxhall’s range extended Ampera, are expected to boost claims made under the Plug-in Car Grant. Vauxhall, which launched the Ampera in May, forecasts it will sell 3,500 units of the £30,000 car in the UK by the end of 2012.

"This is good news for the UK economy, where we are quickly becoming the destination of choice for manufacturers, and good news for the environment," Barker said.