The ban on petrol and diesel car sales may be further delayed if ministers fail to tackle major barriers to electric vehicle ownership, peers have warned.
A House of Lords committee report says electric car sales are ‘stalling’ among private motorists as many cannot afford them and because of the slow roll-out of public chargers – particularly in rural areas.
It came as industry figures show sales of electric vehicles plummeted by 25 per cent last month, when compared with January 2023.
Sales of electric vehicles plummeted by 25% last month, when compared with January 2023
While EV sales among businesses grew 42 per cent, it is a major blow to the Government’s target of banning sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035 as it needs to convince more than 30million private motorists to make the switch.
Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders figures published Monday show that 20,935 electric cars were registered in January – a rise of 21 per cent year on year.
However, purchases by private buyers fell by a quarter (25.1 per cent).
The trade body’s chief executive Mike Hawes previously said the UK was now ‘probably in the bottom half in Europe’ for driver demand for EVs, falling below nations such as France, Germany, Ireland and Portugal.
He attributed this to a lack of incentives in the UK.
Rishi Sunak has already delayed the proposed ban from 2030 to 2035 to give consumers more time to make the transition to EVs.
The ban on petrol and diesel car sales may be further delayed if ministers fail to tackle major barriers to electric vehicle ownership, peers have warned
Electric vehicles (BEV in this chart) accounted for 14.7% of the total new car market in January – this is well below the Goverment’s target
The Government had set a target of installing six chargers at all motorway service stations by the end of 2023, but it was revealed in January it had failed dismally trying to achieve this goal.
But this has only been achieved at 33 per cent of locations, chairman of the inquiry Baroness Parminter said.
‘The evidence we received shows the Government must do more to get people to adopt EVs,’ she added.
‘If it fails to heed our recommendations the UK won’t reap the significant benefits of better air quality and will lag in the slow lane for tackling climate change.’
Ministers have been instructed to start addressing the disparity in upfront costs between EVs and petrol and diesel cars, and revamp grants aimed at incentivising the purchase of new EVs.
And while the report said the Government is making some headway with charging infrastructure, more needs to be done to bolster the number of devices available to those without on-street charging at home.
Current support for local authorities in the form of the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure fund (LEVI) is seen as a great initial step but the report recommended extending this for a further three years.
However, outdated regulation is holding charging infrastructure back.
New consulting needs to happen around mandatory workplace charging and the ‘right to charge’ for tenants in multi-occupancy buildings in order to improve public charging networks, the inquiry highlights.
