Drivers set for £700m EV charm offensive

Times

19 hours ago

The UK is to announce a £700 million subsidy scheme to convince drivers to switch to electric vehicles. Officials in Whitehall are this weekend adding the final touches to new policies to address concern about the high upfront cost of EVs and the perception of a lack of charging infrastructure.
Automotive bosses have been waiting for details of the government's next steps to reduce the cost of buying an electric vehicle outside a company car scheme. Last month's spending review set aside £1.4 billion 'to support the continued uptake of electric vehicles, including vans and HGVs'.
It is understood an announcement may be made this week that up to £700 million of this will be used for subsidies or grants to reduce purchase costs. Whitehall sources cautioned that the plans have yet to be signed off.
If the ideas win approval, it would give an EV financial incentive to everyday motorists for the first time since the plug-in grant ended in 2022.
The government is also allocating £25 million to help home-charging for households without driveways. Gullies will be cut into footways to allow cables to run safely beneath paving slabs. This means cars parked on the street can be charged at home. Some 20,000 of these are scheduled to be rolled out between now and the end of 2026.
Ministers also want to incentivise businesses to make the change. Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, will on Sunday unveil a £30 million package to pay for thousands of charge points at delivery depots, paving the way for millions of groceries and goods deliveries to be made by zero-emission vehicles.
'We are making it easier and cheaper for British businesses to go electric,' Alexander said. 'This investment will position Britain as a global leader in electric freight, supporting cleaner vans and lorries and cutting business costs to transition to zero emission. With more than 1.4 million electric vehicles already on our roads, we're backing our logistics sector to cut pollution and drive jobs and investment across the UK.'
Ashwin Prasad, the chief executive of Tesco UK, said the grocer had been rolling out electric vans and trialling electric-powered lorries 'but there is still more work to do to reach our target of carbon neutrality across our own operations by 2035'. 'This scheme is an important step in ensuring the industry has the charging infrastructure needed to continue the electrification of our transport operations,' he said.
We are making it easier and cheaper for British businesses to go electric,' Alexander said. 'This investment will position Britain as a global leader in electric freight, supporting cleaner vans and lorries and cutting business costs to transition to zero emission. With more than 1.4 million electric vehicles already on our roads, we're backing our logistics sector to cut pollution and drive jobs and investment across the UK.'
Ashwin Prasad, the chief executive of Tesco UK, said the grocer had been rolling out electric vans and trialling electric-powered lorries 'but there is still more work to do to reach our target of carbon neutrality across our own operations by 2035'. 'This scheme is an important step in ensuring the industry has the charging infrastructure needed to continue the electrification of our transport operations,' he said.
Chris Ashley, from trade body the Road Haulage Association (RHA), said: 'Quite simply without the ability to charge at depot we are not going to see the introduction of electric HGVs, coaches and vans at the pace required.'
Electric car sales rose 39.1 per cent to 47,354 units in June, with one in four buyers going electric, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. This is still below the minimum mandated level, which stipulates that 28 per cent of new car sales and 16 per cent of new van sales should be zero emission this year.
Currently drivers can benefit from generous tax breaks if an electric car is bought on a company scheme. However, this benefit is not available universally.