24-06-2024: Which UK political party is best for EV drivers?

[Stuart Wright]

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 incentives, discounts and policies.

Please note that the podcast is about the politics relevant specifically to EV drivers and unrelated political topics are off topic and off the table.

NEWS ROUNDUP

Our main news tonight is topical:
On the back of the US raising their tariffs on Chinese car imports to 100% - which has little practical effect since almost no Chinese imports were going to the US anyway - the EU has now proposed an increase on their tariffs on Chinese car imports from 10% to 38.1% from 4th July. The dispute is over hidden subsidies the EU claim the Chinese give to their car and battery industries.

The latest is that the EU and China are now in talks about these tariffs to see if they can be resolved through an agreement.

In the UK, the government has said they will wait to see what the EU does before deciding their next move.

UK EV POLICIES - PAST

• We had a ban on new diesel and petrol cars from 2023.
• There was also a plug-in car grant that ended in 2022. Originally this was £3,500 for cars of up to £50,000. Then it was reduced to £3,500 and £32,000. Then reduced to £3,000 then £2,500, then £1,500 and then scrapped.

UK EV POLICIES - PRESENT

• ZEV mandate from 2024 with annual targets for percentage of EVs: 80% of new cars and 70% of new vans sold in UK ZEV by 2030, increasing to 100% by 2035. Fine is £15,000 per vehicle over the allowance per manufacturer (for cars), £9,000 for vans. Must sell 1,000 non-ZEV vars to have a target.
  • Cars: 22% in 2024, then 28%, 33%, 38%, 52% and 66% in 2029, 80% in 2030, 84%, 88%, 92%, 96%, 100% by 2035.
  • Vans: 10% in 2024, then 16%, 24%, 34%, 46%, 58%, 70% in 2030, then targets to be set).
• Ban on new diesel and petrol cars delayed to 2035 (same as France, Germany, Sweden, Canada).
• Plug-in van grant of £2,500 for small vans and £5,000 for large vans until 2025 (specific rules on emissions, weight, range apply).
• £350 (or 75% off, whichever is lower) contribution to homeplace charge points for people living in flats.
• Targeting 300,000 public charge points by 2030 (50,000 by 2023).
• £381m local EV infrastructure fund for councils (2 tranches, 1 in 2023-2024FY, 1 in 2024-2025FY).
• All new public charge points must accept contactless payment and clearly display prices by 2025.

Net Zero Targets

• Reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions to (net) zero by 2050.
• Paris Agreement: reduce GG emissions to 68% of 1990 levels by 2030. In 2022, GG emissions were 46% below 1990 levels. Transport (total: commercial and passenger) is 28% of total emissions.

UK EV POLICIES - FUTURE

Looking at each of the party’s manifestos when it comes to electric vehicles. We have looked at the EV-specific elements of each of the party's manifestos and quoted them here. E&OE.

LABOUR

• Labour's manifesto PDF with references to EVs on slide 31

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

• The Conservative's manifesto PDF with the main mention of electric cars on slides 10 & 12

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.

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

• The Liberal Democrat's manifesto PDF with references to EVs on slides 79 and 80

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

GREEN PARTY

• The Green Party manifesto PDF with references to EVs on slide 19

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.

REFORM PARTY

• The Reform Party manifesto PDF with a mention of electric cars on slide 19

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

• The Plaid Cymru manifesto is a PDF and searching for electric cars or EV returns no text

SNP

• The SNP manifesto is a PDF with mentions of electric cars or EVs on slides 12 and 24

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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[siteguru]

The obvious choice would be the Greens ... but reality has to set in.

 

[Stuart Wright]

The obvious choice would be the Greens ... but reality has to set in.

Let's try and dive a bit deeper in to the details and ignore the non-EV related policies.
Each party's EV policy could be taken in to account by voters as part of greater consideration on who to cast their vote for. Or it might be irrelevant even to EV owners.
But if we're informed, that can't hurt the decision making process, right?

 

[tsedge]

The obvious choice would be the Greens ... but reality has to set in.

It isn't as simple as that - for example (hypothetical, I haven't looked through the manifestos yet), the Greens might favour far fewer cars on the road of any type, or restrictions on roads (or at least road building) and tolls or high VED rates all of which might be bad for EV drivers even if good for other goals. So let's dig into the detail and see what is on offer.

 

[Anon70]

Experience would say it is the Home Office advisors we should be more concerned about. The situation with Diesel cars is a prime example. If you can convince the right minister that something is a good idea they will create a policy and promote legislation for that policy.

This is why you can drive a 10 year old (pre 2017) diesel car and pay zero VED (less than 100g/km CO2) but from next year you will pay VED on an EV.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

The party which can promise stable ,sustainable energy prices ( electricity ) and have policies to enable that will be the best for EV users. As only two parties have a chance of winning ( one of those is slim ) the policies of the others are not as relevant. A counterpoint argument would be which parties are bad or even anti EV, which in a way would be more enlightening.
The last time I had political sentiments on this forum I was jumped on from a great height with the statement that it was not a political forum and those posts would not be tolerated , has there been a policy change....... ......

 

[salty]

The last time I had political sentiments on this forum I was jumped on from a great height with the statement that it was not a political forum and those posts would not be tolerated , as there been a policy change....... ......

Me too. ??

 

[Coulomb]

As long as the posts are factual and about EVs, or your like/dislike for these facts, then this is fine and in my mind not "political", even though we would be discussing policies.

As an example, party A might be in favour of an incentive for say EV chargers in rural locations. Stating and discussing that is fine, and to me not "political". Arguing that subsidies in general distort the market and are inherently a bad (or you might argue a good) thing is one of those complex issues that people never seem to agree on; that to me is politics, and this forum is not the place for such argumentation.

 

[Stuart Wright]

Politics affects everything in our lives. So the current incentives (or lack of them), for example, set by the government is, of course, relevant.
What we don’t want on the forum is political arguments.

 

[siteguru]

Might be worth a watch/listen prior to tonight's podcast?

 

[tsedge]

Might be worth a watch/listen prior to tonight's podcast?

Yes, we spotted it too, thanks.