UK’s £5,000 ($8,318 U.S.) plug-in vehicle grant nets 534 takers in 1st quarter of 2011

On January 4th 2011, the UK’s £5,000 ($8,318 U.S. at the current exchange rate) plug-in vehicle grant scheme went live, meaning that motorists across the UK could purchase an eligible plug-in and apply to get a significant chunk of money back from the government.

The scheme was established with hopes of boosting sales of plug-in vehicles and pushing the UK to be Europe’s leading adopter of low-carbon cars. To date, figures released by the UK’s junior transport minister, Norman Baker, show that only 534 plug-in vehicles were registered under the grant scheme. Furthermore, just 213 of those vehicles have been delivered to customers thus far.

At this time, nine vehicles – not all of which are currently available – are listed to be eligible for the grant, including:

• Mitsubishi i-MiEV
• Smart Fortwo Electric Drive
• Peugeot iON
• Citroen C-Zero
• Nissan Leaf
• Tata Indica Vista EV
• Toyota Prius Plug-in
• Chevrolet Volt
• Vauxhall Ampera

A sales surge is expected as more qualifying vehicles hit dealerships in the coming months across the UK.

[Source: Guardian.co.uk]