Electric car sales flat

NEW RESEARCH shows that despite a variety of subsidy programmes, electric vehicle sales across Europe continue to flatline

Although a £5,000 grant is in place, the UK managed just 599 registrations in the first half of 2011 – most of which were in central London and to firms, rather than private buyers.
However, the UK performed comparatively well compared with most other European markets. Spain has a similar level of subsidy in place but only managed 111 registrations while Denmark recorded 283 new vehicles, despite finance and tax incentives that amounted to nearly £20,000in some circumstances.

Germany topped the league for the number of registrations – 1,020, up from 62 in the same period the previous year, while oil-rich Norway managed the best percentage as the 822 vehicles registered amounted to 1.26% of the new vehicle market.

Commenting on the findings, Gareth Hession, of JATO, the firm that commissioned the findings, said: "The discrepancies highlight the apparently low influence of price on purchase decisions across the region. Given this, it's reasonable to conclude that sales are more affected by other factors such as the degree of urban geography, market maturity and charging infrastructure than was previously thought."