The ink may hardly be dry on the Electric Car Grant, but less than a week after the £560m scheme was announced, initial research indicates the scheme may be having the desired effect.
That’s the verdict from online car-sales platform Motors, which commissioned a survey of 1,000 people asking if the Electric Car Grant (ECG) had affected their buying intentions.
Some 38% of those polled said the ECG will make them more likely to purchase an EV when it’s time to change cars, with this proportion being equally split amongst men and women. The majority (65%) of those aged 35 and under said they would consider an electric car as their next purchase.
Yet while there was enthusiasm for the grant, when asked whether they would prefer discounts on brand-new EVs or a reduction on the VAT applied to public charging, almost half (48%) of those surveyed said they would rather that VAT on commercial electricity attracted the same 5% rate as domestic power, rather than the 20% tax that is currently applied.
Some of the fine details of the ECG are still being determined, so it won’t be until August or September’s new-car registration figures are released that its impact will become measurable.
