Government’s electric car pledge is ‘falling behind’, MPs say

The gov is falling behind on its commitments to switch a proportion of Britain’s car fleet to electric vehicles

Government’s electric car pledge is ‘falling behind’, MPs say
MPs warn that the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles is 'too low'.

An influential committee of MPs raised the concerns last week, saying the take-up of electric vehicles has been slower than hoped.

According to the guideline target recommended by the government’s climate advisors, ultra-low emission vehicles should make up nine per cent of the fleet by 2020, but current forecasts by the Department for Transport (DfT) show the figure to be around half that by the end of the decade.

The committee said electric vehicle technology is essential to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport, and tackling the air pollution produced by the increased number of diesel cars on the road.

The MPs also expressed concerns that owners of Volkswagen vehicles affected by the diesel emissions scandal appeared to have been “let down” by authorities who were “letting slide” the opportunity to investigate the German manufacturer’s behaviour and potentially take legal action.

Mary Creagh, chairwoman of the committee, said: “The uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles is too low to meet the UK’s climate change targets at the lowest cost to the public.

“Air quality targets that were supposed to be met in 2010 won’t be hit until 2020 at the earliest.

“And it’s been almost a year since we discovered VW had fitted cars with cheat devices, but the government has still to decide what action to take against the company.”

A DfT spokesman said: “We want nearly all cars and vans to be zero emission by 2050 and are investing more than £600 million in this Parliament to support the manufacture, use and uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles.”

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