The British government announced on Tuesday that it would end a subsidy of 1,500 pounds (more than 1,700 euros) paid to purchasers of certain new electric cars to focus on other vehicles, attracting the wrath of the automotive industry.
With this program started in 2011, the government has "
supported the sale of nearly half a million
" electric cars, he said in a statement.
But the executive says it wants to focus now on supporting other types of electric vehicles: taxis, motorcycles, vans, trucks and wheelchair accessible vehicles, for which it provides an envelope of 300 million pounds.
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The UK has set a 2030 ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles in the country and had already announced in March the provision of 1.6 billion pounds to reach 300,000 public charging points by 2030. “
The decision to remove the subsidy for plug-in cars sends the wrong message
”, and comes “
at the worst time
” for a sector which has not yet recovered from the pandemic, denounced Mike Hawes, general manager of the SMMT, the UK industry association, in a statement.
“
We are now the only major European market to have no initial purchase incentive for electric cars,
” he said.
"
To make (electric cars) accessible to all, we need prices
to come down ," added road users' association RAC, saying it was "
disappointed that the government has chosen to end the subsidy at this stage.
".
However, the executive has "
always been clear on the fact (...) that it was temporary funding
", he said in his press release.
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He notes that the amount, initially set at 5,000 pounds, had already been gradually reduced, with “
little effect on the rapid acceleration of sales
” of electric cars.
The government also argues that motorists opting for electric already benefit from the savings made on fuel, but also from a zero road tax and favorable tax rates on company cars.
The automotive sector in the UK is plagued by a continuing shortage of spare parts as a result of global supply chain disruptions.
But sales of electric cars continue to grow in the country, and now represent a sixth of all cars sold, and even a little more than half if we include the
