The Transport Committee hosted the second evidence session of the inquiry into supercharging the EV transition yesterday morning.
The first panel focused on cars, with the Committee exploring whether car grants have really worked to help drive the EV transition.
Marc Palmer, head of strategy and insights at Auto Trader, said: “The pace of adoption of new electric cars has grown over the last few years but it has been fairly static over the last three or four quarters.
“Electric cars now make up about 22% of all new car registrations each quarter and that has been the case for the last 6 to 9 months. Whilst we have seen improvements year on year, we are starting to see that flatten out.
“The introduction of the electric car grant did make a difference in the relatively short term, we saw an increase in interest both in the market in terms of registrations but also on Autotrader’s platform. We haven’t seen that continue at the rate we would like it to go.
“We are at the risk of people in middle and lower income households being priced out of the transition. They rely on the used market.”
Toby Poston, Chief Executive Officer at British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), has questioned whether OEM discounting and numerous Government grants are sustainable and whether there is another way of ensuring the transition takes place naturally.
Vicky Edmonds, Chief Executive Officer at EVA England, said: “At the moment we are creating a two-tier electric vehicle transition. We are perhaps too focused on chasing targets for the ZEV Mandate and chargepoint numbers, and less focused on thinking about the transition and whether it works for people.
“We need to create a market that supports a wide range of incomes into these cars.”
Edmonds recommends intervention in the form of subsidising lower cost and longer leases for lower income households so they drop below £100 a month. She suggests that charging credits through providers would also help.
