While 2007 seemed like a banner year for electric cars like the G-Wiz and the Nice Mega, it looks like 2008 has been particularly harsh. Green motor website, Clean Green Cars revealed that electric car sales had more than halved from 374 in January to October 2007 to only 154. Although the numbers are extremely small to begin with, a reduction instead of an increase is bad news to the electric vehicle market. The Nice Car Company has also recently gone into administration.
Demand for electric cars in London has evidently been damaged by certain factors: the loss of free parking for electric cars in the City (worth around £4k per year), the subsequently scrapped plans to exempt sub-120g/km emitting cars from congestion charges (a large advantage of the electric cars), and the lower safety standards applied to the G-Wiz and Nice cars being quadricycles rather than cars.
Regardless, hopes for London to move towards electric as a real alternative to regular petrol cars have definitely been pushed back.
