Low demand for electric cars means Government subsidies are being left unclaimed, in what is a disappointment to the industry's continued development. While 8,600 claims were made for the Plug-in Car Grant, which sees up to £5,000 knocked off the price of a new car, or up to £8000 knocked off a new van, demand is still slow to take off. Around £230m from a total of £400m is likely to have been claimed from the original allocated fund when the scheme ends in 2015, leaving £170m of unclaimed discounts. Although electric sales are on the up, they are increasing at a lower rate than expected: "Sales of ultra-low emission vehicles have been increasing year on year, but at a slower rate than originally anticipated,î said Roads minister Robert Goodwill. "We are currently projecting to spend circa £230 million over the period. Grant uptake in 2013 was 335 per cent higher than in 2011, grants in January 2014 were at a record level and 679 per cent higher than the equivalent month in 2013.î Despite slow sales, Nissan's Leaf has built on its previous success from January 2013 with an incredible 1,000 per cent rise in sales. Already this year almost three quarters of all pure electric vehicles sold have been Nissan Leafs. Managing director at Nissan Motor GB, Jim Wright, said: 'Momentum around the Nissan Leaf is growing with each passing month and that trend only looks like continuing. 'When we launched the Leaf we were the first manufacturer to bring an all-electric vehicle to market that was both practical and affordable and the success of the Leaf demonstrates we were right to do so.î In December Hampshire dentist, Brett Garner, became the 100,000th worldwide owner of the Leaf. Months later UK pay-as-you-go recharging network, Charge Your Car (CYC), reached the same number of EV charging sessions on its network. The total drawn from the network so far has nearly surpassed 550,000 kWh, including the electricity used in the journey taken in a Nissan Leaf from London to Edinburgh, by David Peilow and Robert Lewellyn, to prove that it could be done with the UK network of public charging stations.
