GRANTS for electric cars have been scrapped, meaning buyers now miss out on savings of up to £1500 on EVs that cost less than £32,000.
The move was announced by the Department for Transport (DfT) this morning, making electric car ownership more expensive for many.
It said that success in the UK’s electric car revolution has lead the government to 'refocus plug-in grant funding' to encourage other vehicles to ‘charge up and go green.'
To this end, it will provide '£300 million in grant funding for sales of electric vans, taxis and motorcycles to boost drive to net zero.'
DfT reckons the scheme has helped to 'increase the sales of fully electric cars from less than 1,000 in 2011 to almost 100,000 in the first 5 months of 2022 alone.'
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It says 'battery and hybrid electric vehicles (EVs) now make up more than half of all new cars sold and fully electric car sales have risen by 70% in the last year, now representing 1 in 6 new cars joining UK roads.'
Transport Minister Trudy Harrison said: "The government continues to invest record amounts in the transition to EVs, with £2.5 billion injected since 2020, and has set the most ambitious phase-out dates for new diesel and petrol sales of any major country.
"But government funding must always be invested where it has the highest impact if that success story is to continue.
"Having successfully kickstarted the electric car market, we now want to use plug-in grants to match that success across other vehicle types, from taxis to delivery vans and everything in between, to help make the switch to zero emission travel cheaper and easier."
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RAC head of policy Nicholas Lyes said: “The UK’s adoption of electric cars is so far impressive but in order to make them accessible to everyone, we need prices to fall – having more on the road is one important way of making this happen, so we're disappointed the Government has chosen to end the grant at this point.
"If costs remain too high, the ambition of getting most people into electric cars will be stifled."
The DfT reassured electric car buyers that 'all existing applications for the grant will continue to be honoured.'
'Where a car has been sold in the 2 working days before the announcement, but an application for the grant from dealerships has not yet been made, the sale will also still qualify for the grant.'
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