The UK government must introduce incentives to stimulate private demand for electric cars, as “we are not seeing customer demand for EVs” without them, according to Ford of Britain MD Lisa Brankin.
She said the government’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate – which stipulates that car makers sell 22% of their cars with electric powertrains in 2024, rising to 80% in 2030 – can only be a success with incentives.
“We need incentives to drive demand in the consumer market,” said Brankin, who highlighted new chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first budget on 30 October as the opportunity to do so.
Incentives in the fleet market have shown that demand for EVs can be stimulated, said Brankin, and demand sits above 35% this year in that sector of the market. In the retail market, demand for EVs remains below 10%.
Brankin said Ford backs the SMMT’s call for VAT to be halved from a 20% rate to a 10% rate on new EVs for a three-year period as the incentive it would like to be introduced.
“Without incentives, it will be hard to get to the targets. That’s why we’re calling for customer incentives."
Ford has previously said that restricting supply of ICE cars could be a way of becoming compliant with the ZEV mandate and thereby avoid paying fines of £15,000 for every vehicle that has it falling short of the 22% target.
But “that’s not our plan or where we want to end up”, Brankin clarified. “We don’t want to restrict supply. It might have to happen, but that’s not what we’re planning to do.”
Brankin also called for the government to extend the Plug-in Van Grant – a contribution of £5000 towards the cost of a new van emitting 50g/km of CO2 or less – which is due to end in March 2025.
Add your comment