No Juice in UK Electric Car Sales



(London, England) Despite a £5,000 government grant for each electric vehicle bought, sales numbers have been dismal.

Only 106 electric cars were bought in the third quarter of 2011 through the "plugged-in car grant" scheme, launched in January.

It marks a significant slump in demand on already sluggish-take-up, with 465 cars registered through the scheme in Q1 and 215 in Q2.

However, trade body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) pointed out that all electric car registrations – both inside and out of the grant scheme – have gone from 167 in 2010 to 940 in 2011.

Slow sales are being blamed on high prices and having only a limited selection of electric car models available.