Buyers of plug-in vans in the United Kingdom will receive about 20% off the cost of their payments for the green vehicle or up to $12300. This was recently announced by the ministers of Transport and Business. The program is actually an extension of the currently active Plug-in Vehicle Grant that extends help of as much as $7,700 for consumers buying a green car. The ministers also confirmed that funds are in place to support this program thru 2015.
There are 10 cars which are eligible for the grant for plug-in cars. Five of these cars are available since 2011 while the other half will be rolling out to showrooms this year. During the its first year of implementation, there were 1,052 registrations of vehicles eligible for the purchase assistance. The manufacturers of the vehicles are the one applying for the grant so there will be a lag between the registration and the application for the grant.
The purpose of the program is to help consumers purchase vehicles with ultra-low CO2 emissions which without the grant might not be affordable. The owner will also make most of the vehicle as these green vehicles have lower running cost.
The grant for plug-in vans qualify vehicles which pass certain and strict criteria with regard to emissions, safety, and performance. The application for the grant has been opened and manufacturers are encouraged to send in applications so their vans will be part of the assistance scheme. The government expects to release a list of vans which qualify for the grant in the near future.
The government of UK allocated around $614 million to push for the purchase of green cars and vans with very low emission. The funding includes around $123 million which will be used for research and vehicle development, roughly $46 million for infrastructures, and around $460 million for consumer incentives.
The UK has around 2,500 charging points installed thru efforts of the government and other private institutions. The private sector plants to put up 4,000 more charging stations around the United Kingdom by this year.