A government scheme to encourage more people to buy electric cars offers 25 per cent rebates of up to €4,000.

This gives everyone the opportunity to try driving these vehicles

It only applies to private electric vehicles until the end of this year, according to Resources Minister George Pullicino.

The scheme follows a series of Budget 2011 incentives, including a payback of about €4,000, to boost the purchase of photovoltaic panels to charge electric cars.

However, the take-up was very low with none bought until August 2011, making it harder to reach the target of having 5,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2020.

Mr Pullicino said the latest scheme would act as an incentive or an “extra push” to get more electric cars on the road.

He admitted that their market price was high but pointed out that the rebate would bring the cost closer to that of conventional vehicles.

An official notice on the rebate, which one can apply for via www.mrra.gov.mt, was published in yesterday’s Government Gazette.

The scheme applies to new vehicles that emit fewer than 75 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre and can travel for a minimum of 70 miles between charges.

Anyone who received a grant for a similar system in 2006 is ineligible.

Mr Pullicino also launched a national strategy on electric cars and a pilot project allowing people to try out driving one for three months.

The exercise, called DemoEV, will make use of 24 cars and is a €2 million project – 50 per cent EU-funded –open to companies, businesses and individuals.

“It’s still a relatively unknown technology but this project gives the opportunity for everyone to drive an electric car,” Mr Pullicino said.

People will only pay for the electricity needed for recharges. Mr Pullicino said a traditional car used about 7c of fuel per kilometre while an electric car used 2.5c.

The cars can easily be charged, especially if the driver owned a garage.

However, drivers will be able to make use of about 100 charging points that will start being installed around Malta and Gozo by the end of the year, making Malta one of the first European countries to have a nationwide charging network.

Those interested can download an application from www.mrra.gov.mt.

A number of volunteers will be chosen from business owners in Malta and Gozo, towns and villages and from among people who have solar panels.

Introducing the technology

The national strategy to introduce electric cars in Malta has 31 proposals to promote and incentivise the public to turn electric. It calls for:

• Slow charging points that take six to eight hours for a full battery since Malta has short travelling distances.

• Charging points should be installed in traffic-intense areas to increase visibility.

• New developments should cater for charging points in parking spaces.

• Charging points must work with an intelligent network that interacts with the latest technology, such as mobile phones.