Grants driving customers towards electric cars

Government subsidies are having a significant impact on the number of people considering a plug-in hybrid or electric car as their next purchase, a survey has revealed.

Vehicle valuation company Glass polled just under 400 motorists last month and found that 36 per cent were thinking about buying a hybrid or electric vehicle (EV). The proportion of respondents interested in purchasing a plug-in vehicle then rose to 53 per cent when they were told of the Electric Vehicle Plug-in Car Grant, which offers up to £5,000 off the price of nine new electric cars.

When asked the same question in June last year, just 0.5 per cent of respondents said they would buy an electric car, and eight per cent said they would buy a hybrid.

“This is a phenomenal increase in a very short time, and represents a fast-growing acceptance of the emergence of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles into the mass market,” said Andy Carroll, managing director at Glass.

“It is also clear the government’s Plug-in Car Grant is making an impact on figures and could be the deciding factor for people already considering buying a plug-in hybrid or battery electric car, as well as appealing to those who would not previously have considered it.”