Tens of thousands of motorists will be able to claim a government subsidy to convert their cars to cheap gas power or buy new electric ones under a scheme announced yesterday by John Prescott, the deputy prime minister.
The environment secretary, famously derided as "two jags" Prescott, is to make £30m available over the next three years to put 35,000 converted or new cars on the road. He has already equipped his ministerial car to run on gas.
Grants will be provided to adapt popular models such as the Ford Mondeo and Vauxhall Astra to run on liquid petroleum gas (LPG) or compressed natural gas in addition to petrol. The two companies already sell dual petrol/gas cars. They cost between £1,500 and £2,000 more than the standard model.
Electric cars and dual electric/petrol cars will get a subsidy of up to £4,500. They perform like normal cars but can go only 50 miles before they need recharging.
It is 40p a litre cheaper to run a car on gas rather than petrol, which means that conversion makes sense for large mileage motorists, but the government hopes that a subsidy will make the switch popular with a wider market. There are already 500 gas outlets in Britain, making the fuel reasonably widely available.
Mr Prescott said: "This confirms the commitment in our 10-year transport plan to accelerate the take-up of cleaner fuels and more fuel efficient vehicles. We want to improve air quality and reduce the impact of vehicles on climate change.
"Motorists can play their part by choosing cleaner, more efficient vehicles."
The announcement is part of a £39m programme to make vehicles cleaner in order to help local authorities meet their air quality objectives.
One of the ideas being put forward is to close city and town centres to polluting vehicles. This would mean owners of gas or electric powered vehicles would be the only ones permitted to drive into towns where air quality limits were exceeded.
More than 120 local authorities in the EU and half the capitals of Europe have already joined the Alter project (Alternative Traffic in Towns) and are pledged to convert municipal vehicles to clean fuels.
Thirty British cities are involved, including Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Oxford.
The market for alternative vehicle fuels is rapidly expanding in Britain, thanks largely to the low rate of duty of clean road fuels. The government has already offered a limited number of grants for conversion, and this extra money is expected to vastly increase the number.
To qualify for conversion vehicles must be new or less than one year old and have done less than 25,000 miles. The applicant must get an estimate of how much it will cost to convert, apply for a grant, and identify an outlet where the vehicle will be fuelled.
In the case of an electric vehicle, that can be the normal home supply.
The grant will be between 40% and 75% of the cost of conversion, depending on the advantage to the environment of switching fuels.
Drive for air quality
Conversions
From diesel or petrol engines to those that run on petrol and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) or compressed natural gas. Vehicles need second tank in boot for gas
Ford Mondeo (above) Con-version £2,000 - grant 40%
Vauxhall Astra Conversion cost £1,500 - grant 60%
New cars
Toyota Prius / Honda Insight (above) Duel electric/petrol car. Switches from electric to petrol15 when driving at over 15mph. Total cost £16,000. Government offering £1,000 cashback
Peugeot 106 Electric Government will pay 75% of difference between electric and petrol version - around £4,500 off list price of £15,000
