£5m Fund for plug-in cars

The government is helping its own departments switch to plug-in cars with a £5m incentive

There is now a new treasury fund available for government departments to switch to ultra-low emission cars, the target will be set at 150 for the initial wave. Then the scheme will stretched in September to include funds for another 135 public sector cars including councils, ambulance, and police.

"The Government is going to put its money where its mouth is, we are committed to the uptake of ultra low-emission vehicles," explained Baroness Kramer, when she spoke to an exclusive group of journalist including BusinessCar at the initial launch event at the HM Treasury headquarters in London. "We are in a position to say we can go to every Government department and look to see if they can replace their car fleet, where they can go ultra low-emission."

She also went on to say; "We hope very much that not only Government leads the way but that the people that use them will be advocates. I've spoken to local authorities that are already using these vehicles and the best sales people are the ones that have been using them for their work."

Money for new charging centres will also be included in the fund, which will be used to pay-roll the first 2 years of the lease on the electric cars. This is an experiment to see if the electric cars prove themselves to be more cost-effective than alternatives, and keep within the government budgets.

The Government car service and Department for Transport will be the very first to gain access to the funding, with the 20 Government departments all coming on board soon afterwards. "The art is to give support to the industry to help get it off the ground but still watch the taxpayers' penny," said Baroness Kramer. "We've got to get to the tipping point." Cabinet secretary Oliver Letwin also revealed that charge points would be installed in Downing Street.

"This is about the Government taking a lead ourselves and demonstrating how these vehicles fit into conventional fleets," added Treasury minister Danny Alexander. "I would like us to get to the point where all Government cars are electric, though there may be specific tasks where that's not possible."

Once we have started the ball rolling, these vehicles will need to be accommodated into the general running costs of the fleet. The value case will be established; electric vehicles are far more cost-effective to run."

The new Energy Saving Trust will give the government departments a hand with where new plug-in cars may best be used, and then the cars will be leased from companies by the government in the same way as normal vehicles. Reviews will take place every 6, 12 and 24 months to check their productivity, cost and operational views.