The Plug-In Car Grant, a scheme introduced by the government in January offering £5,000 off the cost of ultra-low CO2 and electric cars, has had a cold reception by the public.

According to the consumers' association Which? the initiative has attracted just over 500 people in the first three months of its availability, frustrating the government's hopes of encouraging  more people to switch to low emissions or electric car alternatives with the money-off deal.

The plan, introduced as an initiative to help reduce the nation's carbon emissions by 40% or more, allows motorists purchasing a qualifying ultra-low emission car to receive a grant of 25% towards the cost of the vehicle, up to a maximum of £5,000.

Since additional cost of purchase is identified as one of the key reasons why electric vehicles are not being considered by many, the offer of £5,000 off a new car could sound like a good deal. But the measure doesn't help that much if we take into consideration that electric cars cost on average a third more than a petrol or diesel powered car of similar size.

The government specifies that vehicles must have been confirmed by the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) as eligible under the rules of the scheme in order to receive subsidy.

Among the vehicles ordered through the Plug-In Car Grant until by the 31 of March, were the Mitsubshi i-MiEV, Peugeot iOn, Nissan Leaf and Citroen CZero, according to data by the Department for Transport.

The government has confirmed after the recent Spending Review that it has made provision to support incentives of this kind for the life of the current Parliament. However, Which? argues that the Plug-In Car Grant scheme - devised initially by the Labour government,- could be scrapped at the end of the year.

The coalition government is due to review the scheme in 12 months. With figures of only 534 car sales covered by the grant until March, out of the 8,600 expected for the whole year, the possibility of cancelling the scheme seems quite high.

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