In the past few weeks the government have pushed through a new controversial ‘plug in van grant scheme’ that rewards motorists purchasing low emission vehicles up to 8,000 pounds (20% of the cost) off the total of a new eco friendly van.
According to the Department of Transport ‘ The Government is adopting a ‘technology neutral’ approach to reducing emissions from transport. This means that any van which meets the criteria will be eligible for a subsidy’
This is rather a large amount of money to be pumping into the low emission van market when the economy is less than stable and businesses are cutting back and sticking with second hand vehicles to reduce costs.
The plug in Van grant was designed to help make the while life cost of a qualifying van more comparable with petrol or diesel equivalents. Currently the cost of a low emissions van is quite high but as demand grows it seems like the manufactures and the government are hoping costs can be reduced through greater volumes of production.
The Department of Transport have acknowledged that purchasing a new plug in Van is expensive and say that the new grant will make these smart eco plug in vans are more realistic option for businesses of all sizes. Transport secretary Justine Greening revealed that seven models of electric vehicles will be the first vans made eligible for the grant, these are:
On sales now
- Azure Dynamics Transit Connect Electric
- Daimler Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell
- Renault Kangoo
- Smith Electric Smith Edison
Available later this year
- Faam ECOMILE (eta March 2012)
- Faam JOLLY 2000 (eta March 2012)
- Mia electric Mia U (eta May2012)
The grant looks like it is going to attract some business towards new eco vans, however the ‘van eligibility’ need to abide by the rules set out on the department of transport website.
Ms Greening accepted the necessity of driving for business and daily life in the UK, but warned that alternative transport methods like these are a necessity as the country faces up to the reality of climate change and attempts to slash its carbon emissions.
The announcement of the new van grant comes after transport minister Norman Baker revealed government plans to invest £15 million in developing new methods of sustainable travel over the coming years.
It seems like the government are doing something, whether or not its enough is a different story. It’s great to see business who can get involved with the scheme like British gas can, but it’s the small and medium size businesses that might feel a bit left out in the cold.
Seeing that the government are investing more is it feasible to start thinking that in the next 20 years we have no commercial petrol cars on the road?
ethicalcouriers 