UK must move faster on EVs - Lords committee

The UK government must set up a delivery unit to oversee and co-ordinate the transition to EVs across the country, according to the House Of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee.

Despite the government’s Zero Emission Vehicles mandate, which requires manufacturers to sell an increasing proportion of EVs each year, progress towards the target of ending the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2035 is not happening fast enough, the committee says.

The report notes a number of major barriers to adoption. EVs are still more expensive than their petrol and diesel counterparts. And up to 40pc of households do not have off-street parking at home and thus are entirely reliant on public charging.

The availability of public charge points across the UK is variable, and funding programmes for these charge points have faced serious delays. As a result the government has missed its target to have at least six high powered charge points at each motorway service area in England by the end of 2023.

“With EVs making up about only 3pc of all cars currently on UK roads, concerted government action to get people to adopt electric cars is now needed urgently,” says the report, entitled 'EV Strategy: Rapid Recharge Needed'.

The report recommends actions in seven key areas, overseen by a dedicated delivery unit.

A better incentive scheme to close the cost gap between EVs and ICE vehicles
A review of planning regulations which are hindering a public charger rollout
Action to remove the discrepancy between VAT rates for domestic and public charging
Accelerating grid decarbonisation with more renewable capacity
Further enhance UK battery manufacturing with incentives and government support
Review and progress options to rapidly accelerate investment in UK vehicle and battery recycling facilities
Comprehensive reform of the road taxation system to prepare it for an environment with fewer ICE vehicles.

The report also notes that there has been increasing amounts of misinformation circulating about EVs on both conventional and social media.

A joint consumer information campaign between government and industry was ended in 2021, in the belief that EVs were reaching mainstream adoption. A similar campaign should now be restarted, the report recommends.