ONE of the main attractions of switching to alternative fuels for fleets is that the Government will foot a large part of the bill through its PowerShift initiative.

For the cleanest vehicles, PowerShift can currently offer grants worth from 30% to 75% of the additional cost of buying a clean fuel vehicle or converting an existing one. The project has a limited budget of £33 million to last until 2004 so this level of subsidy could be reduced in the future based on the uptake by fleets.

Grants are available to help with the purchase of approved vehicles running on LPG, CNG and electricity, including hybrids.

The vehicles and converters must be Powershift approved and details are available at www.est-powershift.org.uk.