SMMT Electric Car Guide

The UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has published an Electric Car Guide.

Aimed at anyone thinking of going electric, it sets out to answer all the questions that potential customers are bound to have.

One sure uncertainty will be the financial aspects of electric car ownership, and so the guide includes some theoretical running cost estimations. These compare a non-specific, typical, mid-size diesel car against a purely electric model.

Although the electric car comes out with marginally better cost per mile figures after three years of ownership, the calculations suppose that a car powered by electricity will have a similar residual value to one run on diesel. The SMMT freely admits that that is a big assumption though, simply because nobody yet knows what the depreciation characteristics will be.

Nevertheless, with the OLEV Plug-in Car Grant (which will cover up to 25% of a qualifying vehicle’s price, to a maximum of £5,000) due to be offered from January 2011, the SMMT’s timing couldn’t be better.

The Electric Car Guide is now available free via the SMMT website, which can be accessed by clicking here.

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