£25m Electric Car Scheme Launched in the UK

Governments across the world are still keen on helping local automakers to concentrate their efforts on electric and hybrid cars, so new incentives, tax breaks or new schemes tend to become a common thing. The UK government for example approved a 25 million pound program to support automakers in the country to continue their efforts in the electric car sector, with around 340 electric prototypes expected to hit the market by 2010.

As part of the scheme, the involved automakers will debut special trials, allowing members in Oxford, London, Glasgow, Birmingham and the north-east to test drive the electric cars. According to a report by autocar.co.uk, power companies, universities and several other entities across the country will also get involved in the scheme.

"Here's an opportunity to position the UK as a world leader in the adoption of this technology by supporting the largest ever trial of such vehicles," Paul Drayson, the science minister, was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.

"That encourages companies working in this field to do their research and development here. That knowledge generated by the trial then gets fed back to the follow-on systems that come through."

Beside Ford, who has already announced an electric Ford trial, Mercedes-Benz also confirmed it will debut 100 electric smart cars in Midlands and in London.

"We're asking the public to come forward and apply to be one of the drivers of these vehicles," said Dermot Kelly, managing director of Mercedes-Benz cars.

"What we want is a diverse group who are commuting to work every day, who have the ability to charge their cars at home. The power supply companies will be supplying smart metering to work out when people would charge their cars up and when they would use them."