Should electric car drivers be given incentives?

TRANSPORT Secretary Grant Shapps is to introduce green number plates to allow drivers of electric cars free or cheaper parking, the use of bus lanes and exemption from the congestion charge (Mail). What next: will road tax be increased for the rest of us to finance these perks? Drivers can’t just afford to dump their vehicles on another Government whim when the infrastructure is nowhere near ready to cope with a mass take-up of electric cars. It’s claimed that green plates will be a sought-after status symbol, but the rest of us will be seeing red.

MIKE CATTERALL, Accrington, Lancs. THE number plates with green bands will not apply to hybrid vehicles. The reason just one in 500 cars is fully electric is because only the well-off can afford them. There is a lack of public charging points compared to thousands of petrol stations. Until the infrastructure is in place, electric cars will be status symbols for the wealthy. At least with a hybrid you can get home if your battery runs out.

COLIN GRIMMER, Lowestoft, Suffolk. OFFERING benefits to electric car owners is unfair to other road users and taxpayers. Battery powered cars are not pollution or CO2-free if you consider manufacture, maintenance and repairs, not just the emissions when driving. The production of batteries causes pollution and the power to charge them comes from fossil fuels, so electric cars are not carbon-free. They use the same roads as other drivers and contribute to congestion, yet do not pay towards road construction and repairs.

MICHAEL J. COLE, Wolstanton, Staffs.