Revving up the Electric Vehicle market

You should see the presents...

Yesterday the first customer worldwide to receive a Nissan Leaf was proudly waiving to the world's media in San Mateo, California. Meanwhile, here in the UK the first nine electric cars to receive the '£5,000 / up to 25%' subsidy are shown below. The government grant is sufficient for 8,600 EVs, or 0.5% of new car sales. The UK's best selling EV, the £9,995 G-Wiz, is ineligible for the subsidy because it is a quadricycle (and presumably because the government was worried that many people would buy the G-Wiz at £4,995 and that the grant would run out too quickly).


Make and model   1st UK deliveries  Price before discount        Price with discount


Mitsubishi i-MiEV      January 2011          £28,990                               £23,990
smart fortwo               January 2012          £16,000 (estimate)               £12,000 (estimate)
Peugeot iOn               January 2011          £519.16 a month lease-only  £415 a month
Nissan Leaf                March 2011           £28,990                                £23,900
Tata Vista                   March 2011          £28,600 (estimate)                 £23,600 (estimate)
Citroen C-Zero          Early 2011             £519.16 a month lease-only    £415 a month
Vauxhall Ampera       Early 2012              £33,995                                £28,995
Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid 2012             £31,000 (estimate)                £26,000 (estimate)
Chevrolet Volt            Early 2012             £30,000 (estimate)                £25,000 (estimate)

Info compiled by Ray Massey, D Mail.
PS The Tesla Roadster is absent from the government's list due to an 'administrative error', code for we don't want headlines saying government subsidises expensive sports cars perhaps.
PPS Will all those people complaining that electric cars are expensive please stop now. The investments are huge and all new tech is expensive... then it gets cheaper.