UK government ‘isn’t doing enough’ to encourage electric cars

Just 30 percent of people working in the automotive industry believe the UK government does enough to incentivise uptake of electric cars.

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New research shows just 30 percent of people working in the automotive industry believe the UK government is doing enough to incentivise electric cars.

That’s according to a DNV GL survey of motoring manufacturers, charge point operators, power suppliers and investors. However, 69 percent still feel the ‘Road to Zero’ goal of half of new cars being ultra-low-emissions by 2030 is achievable.

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In total, 48 percent said they’d consider buying an electric vehicle for their next car. However, 42 percent said ‘not now’.

That kind of reluctance is widespread across British car buyers. A 2019 survey by the Transport Research Laboratory found that just one in four people in the UK have a fully electric car on their shopping list for the next five years.

It’s also worth noting that the government Plug-in Car Grant is due to elapse at the end of March 2020. As yet, there has been no word on whether it will be extended, or what could replace it.

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The AA has proposed that VAT be slashed on electric cars. Incentives are a hot topic too, given the bringing forward of the internal combustion vehicle sale ban, from 2040 to 2035.

There’s even talk that it could be brought forward to as soon as 2030.

Car manufacturers have created their own incentives, with scrappage schemes and deposit contributions. And they have their own reasons to shift low- and zero-emissions cars, too. Soon, if the average emissions of their ranges exceed 95g/km CO2, they will face heavy fines.

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Ethan Jupp
Ethan Jupp
I'm Content Editor at MR. Road trips music and movies are my vices. Perennially stuck between French hot hatches and Australian muscle cars.

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