The UK government has announced that it is ending the plug-in car grant today, in order to focus on supporting the improvement of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure.
Whilst always being sold as a temporary grant, the scheme has helped to build the market for ultra-low emission vehicles and has helped to increase the sales of fully electric cars. Battery and hybrid EVs have become more than half of all new cars being sold, and fully electric cars now represent one in every six new cars on the roads of the UK.
The government will now be refocusing the funding towards other initiatives that could hold back the switch to zero emission vehicles. Public charging and other types of road vehicles will now be in the spotlight, with £300 million in grant funding being used to help boost the sales of plug-in taxis, motorcycles, vans, and trucks, as well as wheelchair accessible vehicles.
Trudy Harrison, Transport Minister, 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.”
This alteration in focus will help the government to eradicate range anxiety, something that seems to be one of the main reasons why a lot of people aren’t taking the opportunity to buy an electric vehicle, however all projections in car sales have been exceeded. 39,000 new EV registrations in March 2022 were more than the entirety of 2019.
Harrison continued:
“With billions of both government and industry investment continuing to be pumped into the UK’s electric revolution, the sale of electric vehicles is soaring.
We are continuing to lead the way in decarbonising transport, with generous government incentives still in place, while creating high-skilled jobs and cleaner air across the UK.”
The government have reassured that all existing applications for the grant will be honoured.
