BVRLA Slams UK Government’s EV Report Response
The British Vehicle Renting and Leasing Association (BVRLA) has criticized the UK government’s response to a parliamentary committee’s recent report on electric vehicles.
In October, the House of Commons Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy Select Committee (BEISC) published a report titled Electric Vehicles: Driving the Transition which called for the government to implement preferential car tax rates for EVs and zero-emissions vehicles so as to incentivize wider adoption of such cars. It also criticized ministers for being too ambiguous about how their emissions targets should be interpreted by automakers, while arguing for air quality targets to be prioritized “over sectoral interests”.
The report called for lower tax rates to be introduced for electric company cars from April 2019 rather than the current target date of April 2020 but the government has declined “to adopt this recommendation”. It responded by saying company EV operators already receive “significant” benefits compared with businesses running company cars powered by internal combustion engines. The government did say new tax bands would be introduced in 2020/21, however.
BVRLA CEO Gerry Keaney said: “By failing to change the tax regime now to incentivize the uptake of EVs, government is missing the opportunity to drive change quickly.” BEISC chairperson Rachel Reeves criticized the government for “fail[ing] to match its own rhetoric” on EVs and ZEVs.
