Nissan looks to government incentives for take up on electric cars
This week, the BBC has reported that Professor Jim Watson, Head of the UK Energy Research Centre says ‘the government’s aim to clean up motor vehicles by 2040 is not ambitious enough’.
The story was reported on 21st May on BBC Online stating that Professor Watson thought the target should be brought forward by at least five years.
The BBC stated that the government is currently considering obliging new cars to run on electricity for at least 50 miles by 2040. Nissan told BBC News that it supported car targets ‘as a pioneer of electric vehicles’.
Nissan UK’s Head of UK External and Government Affairs, Peter Stephens spoke at our conference, ‘The Making of the Modern City’ this month at City Hall, London.
He stated that the government could do more to encourage behaviour shifts in the consumer through particular incentives over purchase price on electric vehicles while working with industry and local councils to develop the necessary electric charging infrastructure.
The 'soft incentives' Peter said, could include local authorities using parking spaces and bus lanes to make electric vehicle use and purchase more attractive.
Nissan has been looking at how to integrate electric vehicles into the wider energy system, using their energy storage capacity when they are not being driven. Peter suggested that 'this would unlock intermittent sources of energy that we are not currently using in society'.
Watch Peter talking about this at the conference in the clip above.