BusinessGreen.com: This year looks set to become the most successful ever for electric vehicles in the UK, as over 14,000 plug-in cars are sold in the first six months
The electric car industry is booming as sales in the last half-year jump by 350 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to industry figures.
Sales of plug-in electric cars are already close to overtaking last year as the best year on record, with just 300 fewer cars sold from January to the end of June than the 14,500 registered over the entire of 2014, data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) shows.
Over 35,000 electric and hybrid cars have already been registered in the UK, representing a three per cent share of all car sales in the last six months.
The increase shows a greater interest in low-pollution cars, as the number of cars eligible for the government's Plug-In Car Grant swelled by nearly 250 per cent. Sales of pure battery electric cars grew 83 per cent from 2,558 in 2014 to 4,681, while plug-in hybrids rose over 520 per cent from 1,538 to 9,541.
Eligible vehicles for the grant include Mitsubishi's Outlander, with 10,000 of the car on the road by the first quarter of the year, ahead of other manufacturers, such as Nissan, BMW and Renault.
Take-up of the plug-in grant, which provides a discount of up to £5,000, has increased sharply, prompting the government to commit an extra £200m to support it. However, a planned shake-up is set to see funds increasingly directed to the lowest emission vehicles.
In related news, Tesla has today announced that it has opened its first electric car supercharger in Spain and a sixth charging station in Italy for drivers of its electric Model S. The company, which last month stated that its cars had driven one billion miles emission-free, now has 901 superchargers across 164 stations in Europe.
Last month, Andrew Jones, transport minister, called on manufacturers to promote low-emission vehicles, praising their ability to save millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide. This year, the average emissions for new cars fell for the seventeenth consecutive year.
The electric car industry is booming as sales in the last half-year jump by 350 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to industry figures.
Sales of plug-in electric cars are already close to overtaking last year as the best year on record, with just 300 fewer cars sold from January to the end of June than the 14,500 registered over the entire of 2014, data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) shows.
Over 35,000 electric and hybrid cars have already been registered in the UK, representing a three per cent share of all car sales in the last six months.
The increase shows a greater interest in low-pollution cars, as the number of cars eligible for the government's Plug-In Car Grant swelled by nearly 250 per cent. Sales of pure battery electric cars grew 83 per cent from 2,558 in 2014 to 4,681, while plug-in hybrids rose over 520 per cent from 1,538 to 9,541.
Eligible vehicles for the grant include Mitsubishi's Outlander, with 10,000 of the car on the road by the first quarter of the year, ahead of other manufacturers, such as Nissan, BMW and Renault.
Take-up of the plug-in grant, which provides a discount of up to £5,000, has increased sharply, prompting the government to commit an extra £200m to support it. However, a planned shake-up is set to see funds increasingly directed to the lowest emission vehicles.
In related news, Tesla has today announced that it has opened its first electric car supercharger in Spain and a sixth charging station in Italy for drivers of its electric Model S. The company, which last month stated that its cars had driven one billion miles emission-free, now has 901 superchargers across 164 stations in Europe.
Last month, Andrew Jones, transport minister, called on manufacturers to promote low-emission vehicles, praising their ability to save millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide. This year, the average emissions for new cars fell for the seventeenth consecutive year.
