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SMMT fury as government pulls the plug on EV car grant Mark Bursa The Government has scrapped the plug-in car grant (PiCG) with immediate effect. The scheme, launched in 2011, gave consumers up to £1,500 off the price of an electric car. But the government believes the grant has done its job, and funding will now be focused on developing EV infrastructure to allow the market to develop. Grants will still be available for vans, taxis and disability vehicles, however. All existing applications for the grant will continue to be honoured, including cars sold in the two working days before the announcement. Transport minister Trudy Harrison said: “The Government continues to invest record amounts in the transition to EVs, with £2.5 billion injected since 2020, and has set the most ambitious phase-out dates for new diesel and petrol sales of any major country. “But Government funding must always be invested where it has the highest impact if that success story is to continue. Having successfully kickstarted the electric car market, we now want to use plug-in
grants to match that success across other vehicle types, from taxis to delivery vans and everything in between, to help make the switch to zero emission travel cheaper and easier.” The plug-in car grant has helped increase annual EV sales from less than 1,000 in 2011 to almost 100,000 in the first five months of 2022. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders disagreed with the decision to end the PICG. SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: “The decision to scrap the plug-in car grant sends the wrong message to motorists and to an industry which remains committed to Government’s net zero ambition.” “While we welcome government’s continued support for new electric van, taxi and adapted vehicle buyers, we are now the only major European market to have zero upfront purchase incentives for EV car buyers yet the most ambitious plans for uptake.” Edmund King, AA president, also criticised the government’s timing: “The latest plug-in grant of £1,500 for EVs costing under £32,000 has been essential for many drivers making the switch from petrol and diesel. The plug has been pulled at the
wrong time on this important grant before many users, still waiting for delayed EVs due to global shortages, have made the change.” King continued: “The numbers of drivers, and indeed many fleets, planning to make the switch to EV accelerated due to the rising pump price. They may now back out until they can find more cash. “With record prices at the pumps and household budgets already stretched, removing the last incentive to go electric could stall this important move to electrification and helping drivers to escape the fossil-fuel-price nightmare once and for all,” King concluded. Mike Coulton, EV Consultant at Volkswagen Financial Services UK, said the move was expected to heavily disincentivise EV adoption across the UK. He said: “It is hugely disappointing that more is not being done to encourage and support lowerincome households in the transition to EVs. Maintaining or even increasing the PICG for the least expensive EVs to make them more affordable, and encourage manufacturers to produce electric cars at a lower price-point, could have been a strong incentive to help adoption for this sector of the market. This in turn would help to remove older and dirtier ICE vehicles in the same way that scrappage schemes have successfully done in the past.”
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