The UK government plans to make electric cars (EV) more affordable so that people could buy them more easily.
The transport secretary Heidi Alexander recently announced that the government will give £63 million to local councils and other groups to help build more charging stations across the country.
As per multiple reports, the government is also working on a bigger plan to offer £700 million in subsidies to help people buy new EV at lower prices.
Alexander said on Sunday, “We do need to make it easier and cheaper for people to buy an electric vehicle. So today we’re announcing really big investment, £63m in charging infrastructure across the country – £25m for councils.”
"I don't have an electric car... like millions of people in this country - I bought a new car about six years ago, I'm thinking about the next car that I will purchase and it will definitely be an electric vehicle," she said.
In the UK, a new EV usually costs much more than a regular petrol car, costs around £22,000.
But now some electric cars from Chinese companies are being sold in the UK for as low as £18,000 which makes them cheaper and more affordable.
Also, new data shows that in the first six months of this year, about 1 in every 5 cars sold in the UK was electric.
Despite this, they still account for less than 5% of all the cars currently being used on roads in the UK.
The UK government had set a target that 28% of all new cars sold in 2025 should be electric but because of some flexible rules, this target has now effectively become 22%.
These targets are important because the UK is planning to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.
