Ministers to scrap taxpayer-funded £5,000 grants to electric car buyers after experts find incentive did little to help the environment



Experts said it is only allowing rich families to buy a second car on the cheap

The subsidies will now be reduced before being phased out after being introduced two years ago

The Government has so far spent £11million on the subsidies



Taxpayer-funded subsidies of £5,000 aimed at boosting sales of electric vehicles are to be phased out, ministers said last night.

The grant was introduced to fuel a consumer boom in emission-free cars but it ‘cannot be maintained indefinitely’, they warn.

It comes after experts found the incentive was doing little to help the environment and instead allowing rich families to buy a second car on the cheap.

Taxpayer-funded subsidies of £5,000 aimed at boosting sales of electric vehicles like this Mini are to be phased out

The £5,000-per-car subsidies, which have been in place for two years, will now be reduced before being phased out.

Details emerged in a new blueprint for green vehicles by the Government, which wants almost every car and van to have ultra-low emissions by 2050.

The Government has spent £11million on the subsidies, while a network of more than 1,600 public charging points has been installed across the country to encourage drivers to switch from fuel.

It was hailed as a way to boost the economy and help encourage motorists to embrace green technology.

Transport Minister Norman Baker said the government was committed to supporting development of electric and other green vehicles

But demand for electric cars has remained low because most families still find them too expensive – and only £11million of the total available pot of £30million has been spent.

Research commissioned from the respected Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) suggests that axing the subsidy will come as a major blow to electric car manufacturers.

The grant is said to play an ‘important role’ in electric vehicle purchase’ in nine out of ten sales.



However, ministers said tax subsidies for company car drivers who choose an electric car will continue ‘until at least 2020’.

Most people were found to have little if any knowledge about electric cars and suffer ‘range anxiety’, fearing they will run out of juice before they can recharge.

‘The distance a pure electric vehicle can travel one charge is a consistent concern,’ said the report.

Drivers are also unsure where public charge points are available.

A scathing report, published by the Commons Transport Select Committee last September, found the £5,000 subsidies were doing little more than ‘subsidising second cars for affluent households’, adding: ‘The Government appears to have spent £11million on providing infrastructure that currently benefits only a handful of vehicle owners.’

Ministers have committed £500million between 2015 and 2020 to support the development of electric and other ‘green’ vehicles and are consulting with industry and consumers on how best to spend it.