Plug is pulled on electric car grant
SUBSIDY SCRAPPED AS PETROL PRICE SOARS
THE £1,500 grant to buy an electric car has been scrapped by the Government despite growing buyer interest amid surging petrol prices.
The Department for Transport yesterday closed its “plug-in” car grant scheme to new orders.
Ministers claimed the scheme had successfully helped boost take-up of electric cars from less than 1,000 in 2011 to nearly 100,000 during the first five months of this year.
The grant was offered towards the price of plug-in cars costing under £32,000.
Transport Minister Trudy Harrison said: “We now want to use plug-in grants to match that success across other vehicle types, from taxis to delivery vans and everything in between, to help make the switch to zero emission travel cheaper and easier.”
However, the timing was criticised yesterday by motoring groups, coming as a leap in petrol and diesel prices triggered a spike in sales of electric cars.
Average petrol prices rose to 185.44p a litre on Monday, with diesel hitting 191.21p a litre.
The RAC’s head of policy Nicholas Lyes said: “We’re disappointed.”
Edmund King, AA president, said: “Removing the last incentive to go electric could stall this important move to electrification.”
Jim Holder, editorial director at What Car?, said: “The damage done is likely to be more from the headlines, reaction and sentiment shift than in actual sales.
“The truth is that the grant had been whittled down to a point that it applied to only a minority of electric cars.”
» Housebuilders Bellway and Crest Nicholson have shrugged off concerns over a slowdown in the homes market by assuring shareholders demand is continuing to outpace supply.
The two property giants said price rises in the sector helped offset surging construction costs. Both reported higher sales as demand remained resilient – despite recent interest rate rises which threaten to hit mortgages.
» Vacancies in the hospitality sector jumped to a record high last month as businesses face the risk of staff shortages over the key summer season.
The industry accounted for more than a tenth of the 1.3million overall job openings reported by the Office for National Statistics yesterday.