Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) monitoring and (b) analysis his Department undertakes of the average (i) capital cost, (ii) running cost and (iii) whole-life cost of electric vehicles relative to (A) petrol and (B) diesel vehicles for different (1) categories of vehicle and (2) groups of users.

The department procures data and analysis from external consultants, which allows us to assess current and potential future capital costs, running costs, and the whole life cost or ‘Total Cost of Ownership’ (TCO) for different categories of electric, diesel and petrol vehicles. We monitor for similar analysis produced by external parties to verify our understanding of how TCO, and the economic case for owning an ultra-low emission vehicle (ULEV), is expected to evolve over time. When deemed necessary, we commission updates or revisions to the data and analysis. At the moment the Department does not conduct this analysis for individual consumer groups.