The culture war against EVs
In an exclusive column for Transport + Energy, Quentin Willson – Motoring Journalist and Founder of FairCharge – highlights the reasons why the Government must stick to its guns when it comes to pushing ahead with electrification plans.
Kemi Badenoch, Business and Trade Secretary, has warned that the January ZEV mandate that requires car makers to ensure that 22% of new car sales will be electric vehicles (EVs), could damage investment in Britain.
She cites concerns from car makers, but the many that FairCharge has spoken too are in favour of the 2030 deadline and ZEV mandate having already planned their electric car model cycles for the next seven years. We know that there are a couple of Japanese manufacturers who were late to the electrification party, backing hybrids instead. They’re likely to be the most vociferous voices. FairCharge isn’t against tweaking the ZEV mandate so low volume car makers aren’t unfairly disadvantaged, and it does contain flexibilities allowing car makers to choose how ambitious they want their strategy to be. But far from reducing UK investment and costing consumers more, the mandate is imperative to create market competition and ensure that many more used EVs come onto the market with lower prices for consumers. Octopus EV have just launched a salary sacrifice scheme where some secondhand EVs will be available for just £300 a month, including charging and insurance costs. That will make some used EVs cost significantly less than combustion versions.
Prices of both new and used electric cars having been coming down for months and there are more EV models on the market than ever before. Sabotaging this considerable market progress will increase costs for both consumers and car makers and reduce choice. The SMMT, JLR, Ford and Stellantis have told FairCharge that they are collectively investing billions in the UK with new ranges of EVs, not least Tata’s £4 billion battery factory. The EV charging industry has pledged £6 billion to build new infrastructure and the amount of charging connections built in 2023 is the highest ever. If the Business and Trade Secretary is arguing that we should ignore this massive, forward-thinking investment, then she’s in the wrong job.
While Europe, America, and China forge ahead with electrification – there are 13 million EVs on Chinese roads, President Biden has pledged $390 billion for EV and battery development, and President Macron is offering large subsidies for French EV buyers – the UK continues to stubbornly fight an ill-considered and ill-informed war against the electric car that will make our motor industry globally uncompetitive. Even Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has hailed electrification as a ‘trillion-pound opportunity for the UK’. Electric vehicles will help clean our urban air, transition away from polluting fossil fuels and generate billions in investment. This is a global race in which the UK can choose to be, or not to be, left behind. The horse has already bolted, and nobody will wait for the UK to put its political house in order. Be in no doubt that much of the anti-EV rhetoric comes from politicians desperate to curry votes for a government that’s in serious trouble. The culture war on EVs is based around political opportunism, newspaper advertising revenues and MPs who want to keep their declining majorities. There are now 1.2 million electrified car drivers in the UK, and they seem the only ones who aren’t complaining. It’s time we heard their voices.
