UK too slow in going electric

According to government figures, UK authorities have spent just a third of earmarked £400 million promised between 2010 and 2015 to hold up projects. Many in the automotive industry deem that in the enduring period, electric cars will swap the diesel and petrol powered vehicles. A customer panics about charging the car batteries, and some worry about the remoteness that one charging cycle will allow to drive the distance, so called “range concern”.

An industry official told the Financial Times. “The key factor is infrastructure. And this is the major spot where frustration starts,” said the executive. “We’re looking in the sector, and saying ‘we can’t spot any chargers anywhere’, and as a result our buyers of electric vehicles have ‘range concern’.” Just 2,538 electric cars were sold in the first nine months of the year in the whole of UK. On the other hand Norway, a country with a population less than a tenth of UK, twice more were sold. France has good sales in comparison to both countries, with the figure of 6,300 units.

The government stuck to its word with £400 million allocated for five years untill March 2015 to support the electric vehicle market. But as of 30 September 2013, only 92 million had been used up, together with only 16 millions on public charging points installations and infrastructure. A further 44 million have been dedicated for electric vehicle infrastructure building projects up to March 2015. According to data from the Office for Low Emission Vehicles, a government body, the distribution of this fund is £12m will be on infrastructure.

Britain has installed about 5,000 public car charging points and the majority of them are low powered with charging time of more than four hours. Significantly, only 220 are swift chargers, which can recharge the majority of batteries in about 20 minutes. There is much to do in promoting electric vehicles.