U.K. to Offer Electric-Car Incentives

By NICHOLAS WINNING

LONDON -- The U.K. government said Thursday it will offer consumers £2,000 to £5,000 ($2,998 to $7,495) to put towards buying electric and hybrid cars as part of a wider £250 million drive to promote more environmentally-friendly motoring.
In a joint statement, the U.K.'s Department for Transport and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said the incentives would be available when the new cars arrive in showrooms, which is expected from 2011.
The government is beginning talks with the automotive industry and financiers to work out how best to deliver the incentive, the statement said.
"The scale of incentives we're announcing today will mean that an electric car is a real option for motorists as well as helping to make the U.K. a world leader in low carbon transport," Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon said in the statement.
The strategy also includes plans to provide £20 million for charging points and related infrastructure to help develop a network of electric car cities across the U.K., the government said.
"Low carbon vehicles will play a key role in cutting emissions," Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said. "We want the British motor industry to be a leader in the low carbon future, and government must direct and support this, through what I call new industrial activism."
In a newspaper interview earlier this month, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised an environmentally-friendly budget on April 22 to kickstart a "green recovery" -- including the mass introduction of electric cars on U.K. roads.
He outlined measures to make the U.K. a world leader in producing and exporting electric cars, hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles and lighter cars that consume less gasoline. Other green measures include relaxing planning laws to allow the building of more wind farms, the report said.
The U.K. government is also considering whether to follow many of its European counterparts by implementing a vehicle-scrappage plan that would offer consumers a financial incentive to swap their old car for a newer, less polluting model.
Write to Nicholas Winning at nick.winning@dowjones.com