Government grant ending?

[With these feet]

PKLD said:

How will those who can't afford a new car get those cheaper second hand cars if not enough buy them (or more commonly) get them given as company cars.

Plus I couldn't afford a second hand car so I 'bought/rented' a PCP brand new Nissan Leaf for £90 a month less than the finance/loan repayment on a £9k used car...

£20k is a decent amount of money for a car. I run a £5k 100,000 3 series as it suits my needs. Sure Id like something newer but I cant afford it.

Please tell me why those that CAN afford to spend £20k should get a discount with taxpayers money?

[gangzoom]

With these feet said:

£20k is a decent amount of money for a car. I run a £5k 100,000 3 series as it suits my needs. Sure Id like something newer but I cant afford it.

Please tell me why those that CAN afford to spend £20k should get a discount with taxpayers money?

Same reason why Alex Ferguson was allowed to drive on the hard shoulder on a M-way, Google/Apple can get away with tax avoidance, and in a time where every pubic sector is under pressure to reduce costs MP's can give themselves a 10% pay-rise.

Edited by gangzoom on Sunday 3rd January 12:46

[MrOrange]

With these feet said:

Please tell me why those that CAN afford to spend £20k should get a discount with taxpayers money?

The problem with all LEV is that they are a) mostly new and b) have very high RRPs. Both factors combine to make them relatively expensive and CURRENTLY out of reach of those with a sub 10k budget. But the RRPs are coming down and early EV cars are depreciating into the sub 10k range.

Creating a tax/grant environment that encourages the purchase of low emission vehicles is a government stated aim and certainly helps towards CO2 targets and general climate-changes goodness.

Encouraging early adopters to overpay for LEV drives a trickle-down effect of reducing second and third ownership costs and, through economies of scale and innovation / development, ultimately the unit cost of manufacture. In fact, everyone wins in the long term.

[With these feet]

MrOrange said:

With these feet said:

Please tell me why those that CAN afford to spend £20k should get a discount with taxpayers money?

The problem with all LEV is that they are a) mostly new and b) have very high RRPs. Both factors combine to make them relatively expensive and CURRENTLY out of reach of those with a sub 10k budget. But the RRPs are coming down and early EV cars are depreciating into the sub 10k range.

Creating a tax/grant environment that encourages the purchase of low emission vehicles is a government stated aim and certainly helps towards CO2 targets and general climate-changes goodness.

Encouraging early adopters to overpay for LEV drives a trickle-down effect of reducing second and third ownership costs and, through economies of scale and innovation / development, ultimately the unit cost of manufacture. In fact, everyone wins in the long term.

The Co2 targets are a red herring, EV's should not be exempt as their power supply is far from "co2 free".But thats another discussion. Solar and wind turbine subsidies are both being cut back on due to their inability to supply their promised targets.
Likewise, until EV's are capable of triple/ quadruple their current distances or some sort of 20 minute charge per 250 mile range, its seems that it is again a poorly thought out way to get people to buy into an underdeveloped and somewhat exclusive market.

[MrOrange]

I mostly agree. However, any steps in the right direction can only be a good thing - esp with the current fuel price war making the "going LEV" choice even tougher.

As part of managing consumption, LEVs can be one of the simplest steps individuals can take to reduce CO2 in our current society.

[JonV8V]

An electric car uses the same electricity as it takes to refine enough oil to power a car over the same distance - that's roughly the argument. The other is the tax on petrol and diesel is enormous!

The gov incentives have started to kick start the market but correctly in my mind started to ween us off those. You still get free charging away from home at most places. Talking of which, I start every day with 230 useable real world range in the car (tesla claim up to 330 but we all know that's pie in the sky). So realistically I'll only ever need to charge if I'm in the drivers seat for more than 4 hours in a day, and if that's the case, a break is needed. I can happily live with that compromise so far.

[anonymous-user]

gangzoom said:

With these feet said:

£20k is a decent amount of money for a car. I run a £5k 100,000 3 series as it suits my needs. Sure Id like something newer but I cant afford it.

Please tell me why those that CAN afford to spend £20k should get a discount with taxpayers money?

Same reason why Alex Ferguson was allowed to drive on the hard shoulder on a M-way, Google/Apple can get away with tax avoidance, and in a time where every pubic sector is under pressure to reduce costs MP's can give themselves a 10% pay-rise.

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 3rd January 12:46

No good or valid reason, then?