Britain to Subisdize Electric Car Cost - Up to $7,600 Per - to Help Jumpstart Demand

Britain to Subisdize Electric Car Cost - Up to $7,600 Per - to Help Jumpstart Demand

By John O'Dell February 26, 2010

The British government has approved a program legislators there believe will provide a big boost for electric vehicle technology and a resulting drop in CO2 emissions - a national subsidy to buyers of zero and near-zero emissions cars and trucks equal to the lower of 25 per cent of the vehicle's purchase price or 5,000 British pounds.

At present exchange rates, the British EV subsidy equalst $7,642 - close to the $7,500 federal tax credit available in the U.S. to purchasers of the least polluting cars and trucks.

The program is funded for 230 million pounds ($351.5 million) - good for at least 46,000 vehicles if all qualify for the maximum amount.

Additionally, the government will spend 30 million pounds ($45.8 million) to install 11,000 electric vehicle chargers in centralized hubs called "Plugged-in Places" in London, the sparsely [populated but well-situated town of Milton Keynes - just above Leighton Buzzard about 50 miles north of London on one of Britain's main thoroughfares, the M1 - and the North East region just below Scotland on the North Sea coast with its populated central area about 200 miles northeast of Milton Keynes. (Today's geography lesson brought to you free by Edmunds Green Car Advisor.)

As in the U.S., the British definitions of what qualifies (based on CO2 output and the vehicle's fuel economy measured as the equivalent of gasoline miles per gallon - preclude all but battery- and fuel-cell electric vehicles and extended-range plug-in hybrids with substantial all-electric range.

One immediate beneficiary will be General Motors Corp., whose Vauxhall brand will begin selling the extended-range plug-in Ampera (a twin of the Chevy Volt) in the U.K. beginning in 2012.

Others that would qualify include Nissan's upcoming battery-electric Leaf; the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and the Think City electric city cars; extended-range plug-in hybrid Fisker Karma; the Ford Transit Connect electric delivery van (right); Honda's FCX Clarity fuel-cell electric sedan; the all-electric Tesla Roadster, and the Tesla Model S electric sedan if the program still has funding when it goes on sale as scheduled in late 2013.

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.