General Election 2024: professionals from transport and energy sectors give their views

With the General Election taking place tomorrow (Thursday 4th July), professionals from the clean energy and transport sectors have given their views on what actions they’d like to see the new Government implement – including a clearer strategy for electric vehicles (EVs) and making them more affordable.

Alex Hinchcliffe, Interim Managing Director at Mer UK – Statkraft’s EV charging business said:

“Regardless of who is in Number 10, the need to decarbonise the world’s economy by reaching net zero will remain high on the agenda. The transition to EVs is central to the UK achieving its net zero goals, and there is a multitude of different ways in which an incoming government can help advance and accelerate this. Mer is keen that the next government focuses on a number of areas, echoing many of those set out by the Renewable Energy Association (REA) in its own manifesto. In particular, as an EV charging company, Mer would like the new government to introduce measures to:

• Achieve the phasing out of petrol and diesel cars by 2030. The date was pushed back by the incumbent Conservative government to make EVs accessible to more families. Labour and the Liberal Democrats would restore the 2030 goal, with the Green party calling for it to be brought forward to the end of 2027.
• Invest in updating the electricity grid and significantly reduce the time it takes for grid connections. This has been discussed over the course of the 2019-2024 parliament and was the subject of the 2023 Winser report on energy networks offers plan for necessary transformation. We hope that the work in this area continues as it is crucial for the transition of our economy.
• Provide more help for local authorities and businesses to roll out EV charging infrastructure and help make electric mobility easy and accessible to everyone. Only the Liberal Democrats have singled this out with a commitment to the rolling out of new charging points and a step-change in local grid capacity.
• Further develop levels of renewable energy generated in the UK through investment in infrastructure as well as skills and training. The different parties have costed varying amounts of investment in initiatives such as £1.1bn in the Green Business Growth Allowance, (Conservatives), £8.3bn in Great British Energy (Labour) and $40bn in the Green Economic Transformation with a £12.4bn investment in skills and training, (Lib Dem).
• Reduce VAT on public EV charging to 5% in line with home charging, instead of the current 20% charged at present.

“Whatever the outcome of the election, Mer will continue promoting and accelerating the transition to EVs through our extensive experience within renewable energy and electric mobility. Backed by our parent company, Statkraft, we combine the best of both worlds to power the European shift towards a purer way of transportation.”

Ashley Tate, Managing Director of Allstar Chargepass UK, says the next Government needs to provide a clear plan to get EVs to the next level in the UK.

He said: “It seems as though the UK’s transition to electric vehicles is steady – growing but not at the rate we’ve seen previously. Setting the phasing out of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles back to 2035 instead of 2030 might not seem to mean much in the grand scheme of things, but it was a powerful signal to the UK’s drivers and businesses that the entire EV agenda seems to have slowed, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). We need to get it back on track, not just for the environment but for the nation’s businesses.”

“Right now, we don’t have anything like a government strategy for EVs, largely because there are political agendas afoot, rather than solving the strategic challenges for road users. The incoming government, whichever that may be, will have an incentive to try to score some easy wins, perhaps with a fuel duty cut, but what is needed is a clear strategy to get more people in EVs, and that means reducing their price, which time and time again comes up as the number one reason that many are yet to make the transition.

“Currently there is a lot of focus on infrastructure, such as getting more public chargers deployed. This isn’t where a new government should be spending its time and money – there are plenty of chargers on the streets already and the majority of charging is going to happen in drivers’ homes or businesses. What’s needed is subsidies to help individuals and businesses to buy EVs. Similar schemes have existed in the past, and there’s no reason that they can’t come back- if there is the political will to tackle this challenge head on.”

Paul Holland, Managing Director for UK/ANZ Fleet at Corpay, including UK brand, Allstar says the next Government must make EVs more affordable.

He commented: “We can all agree that whether your driving is personal or professional, the costs are too high. The government can’t wave a magic wand to dramatically bring down mobility costs, but large-scale, holistic changes to the way the UK moves could. Electrification is at the crux of this: charging a vehicle at home or at a private company is cheaper than recharging on the public network or refuelling with petrol or diesel. If electric vehicles (EVs) were more widespread then UK drivers would pay less and fuel prices would be less volatile as over half of the UK’s electricity is produced by renewables.

“So, what can be done by the next government? The biggest change would be making EVs less expensive to buy. This has been done in the past through subsidies, but there seems to be little appetite in the currently proposed manifestos. One potential light on the horizon is the introduction of inexpensive EVs and a second-hand market – provided the incoming government can take action to support consumers and businesses with the costs of buying the vehicles. Perhaps taking funds from the sales of ICE vehicles and fossil fuels and ear-marking them for incentives for EVs can help to increase the uptake of EVs and make transport cheaper for everyone.”

Meanwhile, Peter Golding, Managing Director at the fleet software specialist FleetCheck, says that whichever party is elected on 4th July should consider rethinking the Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate for vans because of a range of issues being faced by fleets.

Peter said the gap between the capabilities of the vehicles on offer and the needs of many fleets was proving too wide – and there were no easy ways of bridging that divide.

He said: “The massive success of electric company cars in recent years has shown that fleets are willing and able to electrify rapidly and on a large scale. However, the situation for vans is proving much, much more difficult.

“For some fleets that carry lighter loads over shorter distances, and where depot or off-street domestic charging is available, electric van adoption can be relatively simple but for others, there are a whole host of hurdles.

“Limited range and payload, and poor access to overnight charging for drivers living in terraced houses or apartments are very real and widespread problems, as well as more specific difficulties surrounding everything from the 4.25 tonne derogation to 12-volt battery charging. That’s before you get to residual values.

“This situation appears to be having a direct impact on sales, which appear to be flatlining for the moment at least. Unless you are a major business such as a utility company with a strong corporate emphasis on van electrification and the funds to manage that transition, interest is relatively weak.”

Peter said that, given these difficulties, the ZEV Mandate target of 70% of all van sales being electric by 2030 looked potentially unrealistic.

“That’s just six years away which means, for most van fleets, not much more than one replacement cycle. The structural problems that fleets are facing seem extremely difficult to solve in that timespan.

“Whoever wins power will need to do is look at this issue today before it becomes acute later in the decade. It seems clear that either some form of support or incentive – similar to low benefit in kind taxation for electric cars – will be needed, alongside a massive expansion of low-cost on-street charging.

“We are already talking to fleets who are thinking about keeping hold of their diesel vans for as long as possible in order to delay the switch to electrification. If a government policy is directly leading fleets to consider hanging onto much more polluting vehicles for longer, it is probably the wrong policy.”

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.