Vauxhall Ampera may make Merseyside green

Hopes that Britain could become the hub of a global green motoring revolution were boosted yesterday when Vauxhall indicated that its Ellesmere Port plant could become the home of the new electric Ampera.

The Merseyside factory is expected to go to a third shift this year when production begins — months earlier than expected — of the new Vauxhall Astra estate. But the standing of the plant would be greatly enhanced it it does become the European production base of the Ampera, the new extended-range electric vehicle that General Motors, Vauxhall’s American parent, is promoting as a big rival to the Toyota Prius hybrid.

Whereas most electric cars going into production will be suitable only as city runarounds with a range of a few dozen miles, the Ampera will have a range of more than 350 miles on an electric motor fuelled by a lithium-ion battery and petrol or ethanol.

Nick Reilly, chief executive of General Motors Europe, said: “The chances are quite good that the Ampera will come to Ellesmere Port as it is close in production terms to the Astra and will share many components.”

He added that production could start in 2013 and reach 50,000 cars a year. That compares with 191,000 Astras and Astravans built at Ellesmere Port over the past two years, a figure that will grow when production starts on the Astra estate.

The news that the Ampera may come to the UK follows the announcement last week that from 2013 Nissan is to build the Leaf, its new electric car, at Sunderland, where it will also build the batteries. In addition, Ford is to spend £1.5 billion on the research, design and production of cleaner, greener petrol and diesel engines already made at three plants in the UK.

Any commitment by Vauxhall to bring the Ampera to the UK will come with heavy caveats and pleas for further state subsidy. It has already received £270 million of loan guarantees from the Government to increase Astra production.

For the Ampera to come to Britain, “the conditions must be favourable”, Mr Reilly said. “If there is no incentivisation, you would be more likely to go where the incentives might be, like Spain or elsewhere.”

The Government is already committed to make £5,000 available to buyers of electric vehicles in Britain, similar to the £2,000 scrappage scheme to trade in old cars. However, Mr Reilly said that incentives would need to be extended to fleet buyers. He said that there was already interest from government and corporate fleet buyers for 1,000 of the cars at a time but they would have to be encouraged by government subsidy.

He also said that the development of Britain as a green motoring hub would need to be backed up with support encouraging suppliers of parts to manufacture in Britain.

“There will need to be tax incentives and research grants to get suppliers to set up in Britain,” he said.