To be eligible for the hand-out cars will need to meet modern safety standards and have a large enough range and top speed to make them popular.
Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon said: “Cutting road transport CO2 emissions is a key element to tackling climate change. Less than 0.1% of the UK’s 26 million cars are electric, so there is a huge untapped potential to reduce emissions.
“The scale of incentives we’re announcing today will mean that an electric car is a real option for motorists as well as helping to make the UK a world leader in low carbon transport.”
