Thursday, December 27, 2018
No friends electric
The UK Government's pledge to move us away from petrol and diesel cars towards electric, was always going to be ambitious. They want almost all cars and vans to be zero emission by 2050 and have set itself a target of a quarter of its car fleet being electric within four years, and 100% by 2030.
The problem as far as the general population is concerned is battery life and charging points. I live in a terraced house, as does a large proportion of the population, how am I meant to charge a vehicle over night?
We can at least expect the government, and in particular the Department of Transport, to set us an example, or at least make some progress towards their own target, or can we? As the Guardian reports, expectations are far from being met.
Chris Grayling, the UK transport secretary said the government would “lead consumer uptake” of the cars when he laid out his plan for tackling air pollution with a switch to battery-powered vehicles.
However, the paper says that he has come under fire for subsequently scrapping grants for plug-in cars, in a move condemned by vehicle manufacturers as “astounding”. And now official figures have revealed that only 29 of the 1,830 vehicles run by Department for Transport and its agencies are electric:
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Driver Vehicle and Standards Agency, which carries out driving tests, are the worst performers. Neither has a single electric model among their hundreds of cars.
So far this year, the DfT has bought 10 electric vehicles, including some of Jaguar’s £64,450 well-reviewed I-PACE models. Last year, it bought three. Other popular models in the UK include the Tesla Model S, which sells from £53,500, and the smaller Nissan Leaf, which starts at £21,990.
The government has set itself a target of making a quarter of its car fleet electric within four years, and 100% by 2030. About 2% of new car sales in the UK are of electric models, either fully electric or plug-in hybrids.
In addition, the government has also slashed incentives for the purchase of electric cars by members of the public. The plug-in car grant, which since 2011 has knocked £4,500 off the purchase price of a new electric vehicle, was cut in November by £1,000, while incentives of £2,500 to buy new hybrid cars have been abolished altogether.
A case of do what I say, not what I do, I suppose.
The problem as far as the general population is concerned is battery life and charging points. I live in a terraced house, as does a large proportion of the population, how am I meant to charge a vehicle over night?
We can at least expect the government, and in particular the Department of Transport, to set us an example, or at least make some progress towards their own target, or can we? As the Guardian reports, expectations are far from being met.
Chris Grayling, the UK transport secretary said the government would “lead consumer uptake” of the cars when he laid out his plan for tackling air pollution with a switch to battery-powered vehicles.
However, the paper says that he has come under fire for subsequently scrapping grants for plug-in cars, in a move condemned by vehicle manufacturers as “astounding”. And now official figures have revealed that only 29 of the 1,830 vehicles run by Department for Transport and its agencies are electric:
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Driver Vehicle and Standards Agency, which carries out driving tests, are the worst performers. Neither has a single electric model among their hundreds of cars.
So far this year, the DfT has bought 10 electric vehicles, including some of Jaguar’s £64,450 well-reviewed I-PACE models. Last year, it bought three. Other popular models in the UK include the Tesla Model S, which sells from £53,500, and the smaller Nissan Leaf, which starts at £21,990.
The government has set itself a target of making a quarter of its car fleet electric within four years, and 100% by 2030. About 2% of new car sales in the UK are of electric models, either fully electric or plug-in hybrids.
In addition, the government has also slashed incentives for the purchase of electric cars by members of the public. The plug-in car grant, which since 2011 has knocked £4,500 off the purchase price of a new electric vehicle, was cut in November by £1,000, while incentives of £2,500 to buy new hybrid cars have been abolished altogether.
A case of do what I say, not what I do, I suppose.
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It is like Mogg, weasel words and disingenuous.Good words gives their right wing papers something to sell to the public that the Tories are great. However the are capitalists and have earned their wealth through fossil fuels Doing the 'environmental thing' is alien to their philosophy. and will come grudgingly. The Conservatives are past their sell by date as the World moves on
Before you casigate the Government over cutting the grant for plug-in hybrids, be aware that many users have never plugged them in, but simply use them as normal cars: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46152853
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