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Industry calls for electric van incentive
Date: Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The groundswell of calls for light commercial vehicles to be eligible for the Government’s £5000 electric vehicle subsidy gathered pace at the CV Show, with a number of interested parties pushing authorities to extend the grant.
Geoff Allison, managing director of Smith Electric Vehicles, told What Van? that the firm is pushing for the grant “at the highest level.”
“If everything was common sense, then it would include light commercial vehicles,” he said. “There is some support there, I think it’s a case of watch this space. They are starting to listen now.”
Paul Everitt, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the Government may have “feared that the incentive would have needed to be more significant to make it attractive to the commercial vehicle market, and to a certain extent maybe they weren’t seeing the opportunities that exist around the lighter end of the market.” He felt authorities were looking more at larger trucks with higher capital costs. “We’re hoping to convince them that there is potential for a package of support for these lighter commercial vehicles,” he said. “I’m not holding my breath at the moment, but that is the next stage.”
A Department for Transport spokesman told What Van? last year that vans are not covered in the £5000 per unit electric vehicle subsidy because “cars are responsible for the majority of road transport emissions”.
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