Electric car start-up investigates plans for London assembly plant

Electric car start-up EV Stores has revealed it is to undertake a feasibility study into establishing what could prove to be the UK's first electric vehicle manufacturing plant in London.

The company, which imports and distributes the MyCar electric vehicle, is considering opening a facility that would allow it to import the car's components and assemble them in the UK.

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com at the UK Aware green consumer show in London, EV Stores' Julian Whitford said that the plans depended on how quickly demand for electric cars in the UK grows, but he argued that in the long run developing a manufacturing plant in London would help lower the cost of electric cars.

"A lot of electric cars are designed for low-volume manufacture and do not require intensive welding technology and the like," he explained. "We would initially look to ship components in and assemble them here and then gradually build up the UK components we would use."

He added that the company was hoping to complete the feasibility study so that it is in a position to move ahead quickly with plans for a UK plant should recent government proposals for electric car incentives prove successful at increasing demand.

The news comes just months after EV Stores launched, boasting a showroom on Park Lane and the rights to distribute MyCar – an Italian designed electric car, which is a direct competitor to the G-Wiz and Aixam Mega City car – and the Micro-Vett electric van.

Whitford previously worked as a director at The Nice Car Company, which went into administration earlier this year and was picked up by its supplier Aixam Mega.

He explained that Nice had originally planned to distribute the MyCar alongside the Aixam Mega's City car, but had struggled to raise the necessary funding and as a result had been forced into administration.

Consequently, Aixam Mega, which already held the warranties for Nice's customers, stepped in to acquire the assets, while Whitford and a number of his colleagues launched EV Stores in order to press ahead with the plans to distribute the MyCar.