The Treasury announced today that the much anticipated Plug-In Car Grant will be going ahead – almost as planned. Under the scheme, motorists who buy an electric plug in vehicle from January next year will be eligible for a £5000 grant from the government.

The subsidy was announced by the previous Labour government, but had been placed on hold by the present Coalition government, subject to a spending review. Now the Treasury has decided to ringfence the money from any cuts.

Car makers have been heavily pressuring the coalition government for some time to discover whether the subsidy would go ahead. They warned that without the subsidy, electric vehicles would not be able to compete with conventionally powered vehicles as price sensitive consumers would be less willing to buy the more efficient cars. The UK would also be a significantly less attractive for new investment.

The UK is set to be a key manufacturer of electric vehicles for Europe, with the Nissan Leaf being produced in Sunderland and other manufacturers also considering doing the same.

It means that electric car buyers can get a 25% discount up to a maximum of £5000, starting next year. "The coalition government is absolutely committed to low carbon growth, tackling climate change and making our energy supply more secure," said Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond.

"We are sending a clear signal that Britain is open for business and that we are committed to greening our economy. This will ensure that the UK is a world leader in low emission vehicles".

However, there is an important caveat, one that could still undermine the long-term efficacy of the scheme. Whereas the original announcement has earmarked £230m for the consumer grants, the Coalition have only committed £43m for the scheme up to March 2012 – potentially a budget cut of 80%. The Government will review the grant scheme in January 2012 with a view to amending the scheme if necessary.

That said, the subsidy, which will be open to both private and business fleet buyers across the UK, will be crucial in aiding the uptake of electric vehicles with the Nissan LEAF priced at £28,850 (£23,850 after subsidy) and the Mitubishi iMiev set to be priced at around £38,000 (£33,000 after subsidy).

Under today's announcement, the grant will stay in place until March 2012 unless, in a similar way to the scrappage scheme, the money runs out sooner. The UK is not the only country to offer electric car subsidies, with the US offering $7500 to electric car buyers and other European countries also set to offer similar subsidies.

BBC, Telegraph, Department for Transport

According to the Wall Street Journal and Bloomburg.com, Enterprise has purchased 500 Nissan LEAFS for its rental car fleets.

Enterprise which owns the Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Alamo and National Hire Car Brands, plans to locate the vehicles in it's rental car fleets around the US. It is unclear whether any will be located in the UK.

In Febuary it was announced that Hertz had also purchased some Nissan LEAFs for both their US and European hire car fleets.

Nissan has ambitious plans for the Leaf when it goes on sale later this year in the US and early next year in Europe. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has set the goal of producing as many as 500,000 vehicles globally by the end of 2012.

It is unclear how profitable the Nissan LEAF will be for Nissan. Toyota's original hybrid Prius was famously sold at a loss to the company, when released in 2001. It is now a success for the company as the car’s green image has rubbed off on Toyota's image amongst car buyers.

Nissan gave WhatGreenCar the chance to test drive an early production model of the LEAF along Bedfordshire’s leafy lanes and A-roads yesterday. As one of only 4 LEAFs in existance at the moment, and the only one located in Europe, we drove it very carefully, but none the less it definately impressed us.

Come back in a few days for the full review.

The first ever night-time flight in a solar plane was completed in Switzerland today. The 26 hour continual flight was also the longest in a purely solar powered aircraft, the Solar Impulse, and bettered the last record breaking flight by the Impulse completed in April 2010.

"For 7 years now, the whole team has been passionately working to achieve this first decisive step of the project" said Andre Borchberg, CEO and co-founder of the project, a few minutes before easing himself into the cockpit for a flight expected to last until the next morning.

The Impulse took off from Payerne airbase with Andre Borchberg at the controls. It rose to its maximum height of 8,700 meters by around 16:00 using its 12,000 solar panels and enormous 63.4 meter wing span. The 400kg of onboard batteries were fully charged to allow the plane to be powered through the night once the sun had gone down.

"The prototype is ready to begin its journey through the night! It is now going to start a slow descent, which will bring it down to an altitude of 1,500 meters at around 23:00. From then on, the energy stored in the batteries is going to have to keep it up in the air until tomorrow morning", said a confident Claude Nicollier, head of the Solar Impulse test flight programme.

The team's aims during the project are fundamentally to demonstrate the potential of clean technologies and renewable energy, and then to promote them amongst the public. This flight was certainly a successful step forward in their mission.

"During the whole of the flight, I just sat there and watched the battery charge level rise and rise! Sitting in a plane producing more energy than it consumes is a fantastic feeling", said Andre Borschberg, CEO and co-founder of the Solar Impulse project from the cockpit.

The President of Solar Impulse said that the flight was a 'highly symbolic moment'. He stated that flying through the night by the use of solar power is a stunning manifestation of the potential that clean technologies are able to offer. This mission results in realisation of the potential of renewable energies, highlighting that a reduction in our society's dependence on fossil fuels can be made.

Solar Impulse

The Interstate-5, which runs all the way from Canada to Oregon, is to be turned into the nation's first electric highway.

A $1.32 million federal grant will be used to install a number of Level-3 fast charging stations along the route, each capable of charging an electric vehicle to 80% of its capacity within half an hour.

The US Electric Highways Project will encourage more people and businesses in Washington to buy and use electric vehicles, therefore reducing the impact of transportation on the environment and also reducing dependency on foreign oil.

Level-2 chargers will first be installed in rest areas along the Interstate-5, parking areas that get visited by thousands of travellers a year. The Level-3 fast charge units will be installed through partnerships with private firms, and they will be installed at appropriate locations approximately every 80 miles. This should be at sufficient intervals to serve the range of most new electric vehicles coming to the market, such as the Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt.

As electric charging points are continued to be installed over the state of Washington, long distance travel in electrically powered vehicles will be more easily achievable. Ultimately the infrastructure will enable electric vehicle drivers to travel the length of the state along the 276 miles of Interstate-5 between Washington's borders with Oregon and Canada.

The next generation of zero emission plug-in electric vehicles will be available in Washington later in the year, with the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt and Ford Focus models being amongst the first to come to market. It has been estimated that as many as 300,000 electric vehicles will be in use on Washington's roads within the next 10 years.

When charging stations have been installed along Interstate routes, electric vehicle ready cities will no longer be isolated, and motorists will be able to travel between them whilst not having to worry about the range of their vehicle.

Washington State Department of Transportation