Time to Scrap the Government's Plug-In Vehicle Grant Scheme?

The effectiveness of the government's electric vehicle grants scheme was called into question last week by the Transport Select Committee's chair, Louise Ellman. During the launch of a report into the Plug-In Vehicle scheme, Ellman said: "Carbon emissions from transport must be reduced if the UK is to meet its climate change targets, but public money must be targeted on effective policies."

And the latest figure released by the Department for Transport show that the Plug-in vehicle scheme has been anything but effective. So far, despite the DfT having spent about ??11 million on the scheme only 1,706 claims have been made through the Plug-In Car Grant scheme while just 99 claims have been made through the Plug-In Van Grant scheme.

Some claim that this low uptake is due to a lack of awareness of the scheme or a lack of education about how best to introduce electric vehicles into fleets. However, the scheme has been highly publicized in the both the trade and national press and it seems ill advised to question the decision making abilities of the very fleet managers you want to buy into your scheme. The real reasons behind the extremely poor uptake seem to be the same issues that have always concerned consumers: the high cost of vehicles - even with the ??5000 subsidy ??? when compared to other low emission alternatives, range anxiety and the continuing lack of charge points outside of the major cities.

All of these factors combined lead us to believe that electric vehicles still simply aren't a feasible option for fleets. Although we whole-heartedly support the ideas behind the scheme, reducing carbon is an essential challenge we have to overcome, it's now time for a full review of the Plug-In Vehicle scheme as it's clear the money can be better spent elsewhere.