20 September 2012

If the Government is serious about increasing sales of electric and plug-in hybrid cars it needs to have a much clearer and more joined-up strategy, according to a critical report from the Transport Select Committee.

The committee, chaired by Louise Ellman MP, called on the Government and the DfT to get a better grip on what was going on and to operate a more joined-up policy that doesn’t just benefit a few wealthy London commuters.

“So far, Department for Transport expenditure on plug-in cars – some £11 million – has benefited just a handful of motorists,” said Mrs Ellman. “We were warned of the risk that the Government is subsidising second cars for affluent households; currently plug-in cars are mostly being purchased as second cars for town driving.

“It is also unclear whether the provision of public charging infrastructure encourages demand for plug-in cars. Indeed, the Government does not even have a register of all the chargepoints installed at public expense.

“Ministers should not sit back and hope that the Government’s policy on plug-in cars will reduce transport carbon emissions. Far more work is required to ensure that this programme is a good use of public funds.”

Coming under particular fire, from both the report out today and from those giving evidence to the select committee, was the Government’s taxation policy for plug-in vehicles.

Following written evidence from the SMMT, GM and the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association which was critical of the way electric cars were being treated for tax, the report stated: “The Government must avoid creating instability in the plug-in vehicle market through a lack of consistency between departments in their approaches to financial incentives for these vehicles and adopt a more coordinated approach to such incentives across Whitehall.”
 

The Committee recommends:

• The Department for Transport should clarify the reasons for the under spend in its low carbon vehicle programme.
• As part of the next spending review, the Government should set milestones for the numbers of plug-in cars it expects to see on the roads so that the success of its low carbon vehicles strategy can be assessed within that spending review period.
• The DfT should evaluate how effectively the provision of public infrastructure is encouraging consumer demand for plug-in vehicles.
• Making sure that vehicle owners can access chargepoints across the UK should be a priority within the DfT’s plug-in vehicle strategy. The DfT should also set out how it will work to remove barriers to chargepoint access across the country.
• An accurate and comprehensive registry of chargepoints installed by the Plugged-In Places scheme should be made available within the next six months. Publication of a full registry should encourage private chargepoint providers to upload their data for public use. It should be made a requirement of Plugged-In Places funding that location details for chargepoints installed using this funding are uploaded to the National Chargepoint Registry.
• Plugged-In Places funding should include provision for measures to promote public awareness of the charging infrastructure and the plug-in vehicles grant.
• The DfT should set out how it intends to reach agreement in the EU on the type of infrastructure to be used as standard for plug-in vehicles.
• The Government must avoid creating instability in the plug-in vehicle market through a lack of consistency between departments in their approaches to financial incentives for these vehicles and adopt a more coordinated approach to such incentives across Whitehall.

Tags: electric cars, EVs, government, plug-in cars, tax