WHICH PARTY is best for EV drivers?
Ahead of the imminent UK General Election, who will be the best party for EV drivers?
Let’s get political and talk about policies, incentives and discounts.
Electric vehicle charging devices by local authority
https://maps.dft.gov.uk/ev-charging-map/index.html
Looking at each of the party’s manifestos when it comes to electric vehicles
LABOUR
As set out in our automotive sector plan, Labour will support the transition to electric vehicles by accelerating the roll out of charge points, giving certainty to manufacturers by restoring the phase-out date of 2030 for new cars with internal combustion engines, and supporting buyers of second-hand electric cars by standardising the information supplied on the condition of batteries.
Additional pledges:
Modernise our transport infrastructure
Fix more potholes by deferring the Arundel bypass on the A27.
Make it easier to build battery gigafactories, £1.5bn funding pledged.
Encourage automotive R&D.
Reduce car insurance costs.
CONSERVATIVES
Automated vehicles will be on British roads in the next Parliament, thanks to our new world leading legislation. We will support people to choose electric cars by ensuring our charging infrastructure is truly nationwide, including rapid charging and delivering the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate to support manufacturers to safeguard skilled British jobs.
We will always back our world-leading automotive industry, which faces unprecedented competition from China in the electric vehicles market. We stand ready to support domestic car manufacturers if there is evidence other countries are breaking global trade rules.
Additional pledges:
Planning autonomous driving laws to enable self-driving cars (Automated Vehicles Act).
Big road improvement schemes.
Promise a ban on road pricing.
Reverse ULEZ expansion in London, ban blanket LTN zones and 20mph zones.
LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
Making it cheaper and easier to switch to electric vehicles, restoring the requirement that every new car and small van sold from 2030 is zero-emission
In addition, we will make it easy and cheap to charge electric vehicles by:
Rolling out far more charging points, including residential on-street points and ultra-fast chargers at service stations.
Supporting new charging points with an upgraded National Grid and a stepchange in local grid capacity.
Cutting VAT on public charging to 5%.
Requiring all charging points to be accessible with a bank card
Additional pledges:
Reinstate EV car grant.
Will “protect” motorists from high petrol prices and unfair insurance.
More local roads budget to fix potholes.
GREEN PARTY
To address the huge and growing contribution that private-vehicle transport makes to our carbon emissions, it’s time to shift the transport system away from cars and roads.
Green MPs will push to restore the fuel-duty escalator to this end and, as revenue declines, we favour the introduction of road-pricing, designed to ensure the protection of users’ privacy.
Greens will oppose all new road building plans. Within a decade we want to see all petrol and diesel vehicles replaced by Electric Vehicles (EVs).
We would push for an extensive vehicle scrappage scheme to support this rapid transition to EVs, with funding rising to £5bn per year by the end of the parliament, supported by the rapid rollout of EV charging points.
EVs have a place in our future transport system but even a wholesale switch would still not deliver on our ambitious plan to make our roads safer and greener. Elected Greens would therefore also push for:
An end to sales of new petrol and diesel fuelled vehicles by 2027 and to the use of petrol and diesel vehicles on the road by 2035.
More government support for ordinary car users and small businesses to replace their vehicles as diesel and petrol engines are phased out.
Additional pledges:
Rapid rollout of new EV charging points.
Stop all fossil fuel extraction projects in the UK, removing all oil and gas subsidies.
Introducing a carbon tax on all fossil fuel imports and domestic extraction.
Reduce traffic in residential areas (ULEZ and LTNs).
REFORM PARTY
Legislate to ban ULEZ Clean Air Zones and Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. Scrapping Net Zero means no more bans on petrol and diesel cars and no legal requirements for manufacturers to sell electric cars.
PLAID CYMRU
Nothing about electric vehicles
SNP
Remove VAT from on-street electric vehicle charging.
Strengthen incentives to purchase cleaner vehicles. Following the example of France, the UK Government should establish a new Low Income EV Car Leasing Fund, backed up by at least £500m, to enable 50,000 EV leases a year to benefit low income families.
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