EV Sales in UK Fall

[Arragonis]

Even with £5000 subsidy.

Just 308 sold in Q3, and only 50 (out of 215) in Q2 were bought by private owners.

Electric car sales down | News | Auto Express

[Ladogaboy]

The market is saturated. Those people who want or are willing to buy have already done so. Either the perceived value needs to increase or the cost needs to decrease.

[Arragonis]

Most people are scared of EVs because of the range and because of the cost. Even with a taxpayer "bung" of £5k hardly anyone is interested.

The payback is puzzling too. You need to drive it to save on the cost of running it vs Petrol or Diesel.

But at the same time you can only use it for a very restrictive range.

[320touring]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

Most people are scared of EVs because of the range and because of the cost. Even with a taxpayer "bung" of £5k hardly anyone is interested.

The payback is puzzling too. You need to drive it to save on the cost of running it vs Petrol or Diesel.

But at the same time you can only use it for a very restrictive range.

There are 3 main issues as I see it..

1. The cars are not proactical (small storage space due to battery packs)
2. Crap Range (partly manufacturers faults, partly due to lack of charging network)
3. Fear of change/progress

put it this way, unless there's an EV that is RWD, and capable of 400 miles on a charge, and can be recharged in elss than an hour-I'll not be buying

[Arragonis]

The Nissan dealer on the corner next to work has a "rapid charging point" for Leaf owners.

They have parked a recycling "skip" in front of it now so I assume they are not expecting it to be used anytime soon.

[tjts1]

Thats fine, send them all here. 7,199 Leafs and 3,895 Volts sold in the US jan to sept 2011.

[Arragonis]

What is the price of a Leaf in the US ?

[FXSTi]

Nissan say $27,700 if you qualify for all the tax incentives. The incentives only reduce your taxes owed and are not a rebate.

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...ah, but the "real" question should be: are the sales of the gasoline & diesel vehicles also down by similar amounts?

BINGO
Car sales continue to drop...but it's not all bad - Autoblog UK

The September plate change saw 332,476 cars registered, just under one percent less than in September 2010, and a less dramatic slump than the overall January to September one: sales are down five percent overall compared to those nine months in 2010.

[Ladogaboy]

Originally Posted by FXSTi

Nissan say $27,700 if you qualify for all the tax incentives. The incentives only reduce your taxes owed and are not a rebate.

I want to say it is a combination, depending on the state you are in. Part is tax credit, and part is tax deduction. IIRC, it was almost $10,000 (credit/deduction) in California if you were one of the first to order the Leaf.