Government failing electric car pledge
1st September 2016 | Commercial Energy
The Government is failing with its electric car pledge, an influential committee of MPs have said. The take-up of electric vehicles has been slower than hoped in the UK, even though the technology is essential to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution produced by the increased number of diesel vehicles on the road.
The Government’s climate advisors recommended that ultra-low emission vehicles such as electric cars should make up 9 per cent of the total by 2020: forecasts from the Department of Transport indicate the figure is likely to be half of that.
Parliament’s environmental audit committee said ministers were failing to put forward incentives and infrastructure needed to encourage drivers into electric cars: 38 of 43 clean air zones exceed acceptable levels of nitrogen oxides. Air quality targets which were supposed to be met in 2010 won’t be reached until 2020 at the earliest. It has been about a year since the VW emissions scandal, and still the Government has not decided what action to take against the company.
Government policy is unclear on what is required, and as a result car manufacturers do not know what their targets are, or the incentives for reaching them. Holland and Norway are planning a ban on new diesel and petrol cars from 2025.
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