HOW BRANDS ARE TEMPTING YOU INTO THEIR ELECTRIC CARS

The stampede into electric vehicles has yet to happen, so car makers are offering ever-more enticing deals. Here's what's available right now

- Tom Jervis

MAKING the switch to an electric car is a big step for most people, because it can require a lifestyle change and a huge financial investment. With this in mind, there has long been the need for a carrot in the form of incentives to get people to go electric.

For a while, such an enticement came in the form of the Government's Plug-In Vehicle Grant and the Electric Vehicle Chargepoint Grant which, as their names suggest, provided a small financial contribution towards the purchase of a new car or charger, respectively.

However, these have since been largely discontinued (although renters and flat owners can still, for now, get the Chargepoint Grant), which means that, along with the reduction in benefits offered to company car drivers, there is less from authorities to entice buyers into EVs, other than low running costs and environmental benefits.

So, manufacturers have begun to offer incentives, ranging from deposit contributions to EV chargers and even free public charging.

FIAT - E-GRANT

IN direct response to the absence of any government EV grant, Fiat (as well as its sporty Abarth sibling) announced the E-Grant - in essence a dressed-up deposit contribution for finance customers. Still, this gives prospective buyers up to £4,220 off the price of a new EV; put down a 40 per cent deposit and Fiat will also offer EV customers zero-interest finance as the icing on the cake.

FORD - POWER PROMISE