Two-thirds of Britons 'would not buy an electric car'

Date: 26/8/2010

Over two-thirds of people in the UK would not buy an electric car, a new survey by motoring website Parker's has revealed.

Of those, 32 per cent cited the fact the vehicles can only travel limited distances of up to 100 miles as the main reason they would not purchase one.

The second most popular motive was cost - 25 per cent of people said they are deterred from buying an electric vehicle (EV) because the purchase price is too high, despite a government subsidy of £5,000 on the cars and the incentive of a long-term saving on fuel costs.

Furthermore, 18 per cent of Britons claimed they would not buy an EV as they do not believe their green credentials.

It was recently revealed just 16 EVs have been sold in Spain since the beginning of this year, in spite of targets to have 2,000 on the roads by the end of 2010 and government subsidies of 20 per cent.

Posted by Nick Anderson