EXPIRED - £5,000 Incentive to buy electric cars @ Direct gov

£5,000 incentive to buy electric cars

The low carbon road

Road vehicles account for 19% of the UK's domestic CO2 emissions

From 2011, anyone buying an electric or plug in hybrid car will be able to receive help worth between £2,000 and £5,000, depending on the cost of the vehicle they are looking to buy.

To be eligible for the hand-out cars would need to meet modern safety standards and have a large enough range and top speed to make them popular.

Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon said: ""Cutting road transport CO2 emissions is a key element to tackling climate change. Less than 0.1 per cent of the UK's 26 million cars are electric, so there is a huge untapped potential to reduce emissions."

""The scale of incentives we're announcing today will mean that an electric car is a real option for motorists as well as helping to make the UK a world leader in low carbon transport.""

The government has also provided £20 million to pay for more charging points and related infrastructure to help develop a network of 'electric car cities' throughout the UK.