Lords' Committee says Government must publish EV roadmap to 2035, tackle misinformation

Wed 07 February 2024 View all news

A new report by the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee says progress in the transition to electric vehicles is not happening fast enough, and major barriers remain.

It calls on the Government to publish a roadmap through to 2035 setting out the steps it will take to achieve the target date for the phase-out of sales of ICE vehicles.

The Committee's report - based on a recent inquiry to which many expert witnesses were called - says that EVs make up about three per cent of all cars currently on UK roads and that they are still more expensive than their petrol and diesel counterparts.

The Committee says the availability of public chargepoints across the UK is highly variable and many consumers face considerable anxiety around whether and where they will be able to charge EVs reliably, affordably, and quickly.

Misinformation was a key theme emerging from the inquiry; the Committee said "consumers need a go-to source of comprehensive, clear and balanced information so they can make informed decisions about their vehicles".

The report says: "the concern (the Government) expressed to us about the scale of misinformation has not been matched by commensurate urgency in tackling it".

The report makes several other key recommendations. It calls on the Government to:

  • Tackle the disparity in upfront costs between electric and petrol and diesel cars, by introducing targeted grants to support consumers buying affordable models. 
  • Turbo-charge the charging infrastructure rollout by reviewing outdated and disproportionate planning regulations, and tackling delays in the rollout of key public funding programmes. 
  • Ensure charging is reasonably priced, convenient, and reliable by equalising VAT rates for domestic and public charging. 
  • Invest in UK recycling to ensure that it is undertaken by responsible operators, and that the UK is able to recoup as many of the critical materials contained in EV batteries as possible for its own domestic production. 

Baroness Parminter, Chair of the inquiry said: “Surface transport is the UK’s highest emitting sector for CO2 with passenger cars responsible for over half those emissions. The evidence we received shows the Government must do more – and quickly – to get people to adopt EVs. If it fails to heed our recommendations the UK won’t reap the significant benefits of better air quality and will lag in the slow lane for tackling climate change.” 

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