Government's promise to region

Sep 10 2009 By The Journal

THE government has promised that a dedicated department of electric vehicles will use "the best of the North East".

Science minister Lord Drayson has told motoring bosses he is convinced that the "ultra low carbon cars" are the only future for the industry.

Speaking at an electric vehicle conference he urged companies such as Nissan to adopt a "build it and they will come" policy in a bid to create the market conditions needed to change the way people view the new cars.

Nissan’s Sunderland site is currently at the centre of Government efforts to secure manufacturing contracts for the next generation of electric cars which are predicted to bring thousands of jobs to the North East.

Lord Drayson called on manufacturers to do their bit as the Government continued to prepare for the huge infrastructure changes needed to support the new industry.

The minister revealed he was looking at ways of offering potential customers a rental period or other cash incentives to encourage them to try the new cars.

"We need to allow customers to tap into the market and try out these new vehicles without a significant financial commitment," he said.