BETTER access to speedy chargers is helping the rise in popularity of electric cars – and Nissan’s LEAF has been highlighted in a BBC report about the fast-growing trend.
Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders figures show that sales of electric cars in the UK have exceeded 10,000, with Nissan selling more than 2,000 LEAFs here between January and June 2014.
This has been helped by government incentives to cut the costs of ownership, as well as green energy company Ecotricity putting some 170 superfast chargers across the motorway network during the past year, giving 90 per cent coverage and allowing drivers to charge batteries to 80 per cent in 20 to 30 minutes – without being charged a penny themselves!
It was reported that 4,000 cars used the system during the last three months of 2013, but in the three months up to June’s end this year that figure shot up to an incredible 15,000.
Dale Vince, the founder and chief executive of Ecotricity, said: “In the past 12 months we’ve gone from eight hours to charge a car to 20 minutes. All of this points to a coming revolution in how we get around.”