Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote the use of electric vehicles.

The Government’s mission is to put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero emission vehicles, and for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040.

The Road to Zero Strategy sets out a clear pathway to zero emissions. By 2030 we want at least half of new cars sold, and as many as 70%, to be ultra low emission, alongside up to 40% of new vans. To achieve this, we are investing nearly £1.5bn‎ between April 2015 and March 2021, with grants available for plug in vehicles, and schemes to support charge point infrastructure at homes and workplaces and on residential streets. We have also put in place a favourable tax regime that rewards the cleanest vehicles.

To accelerate the shift to zero emission cars, all zero emission models will pay no company car tax in 2020-21; 1% in 2021-22 before returning to the planned 2% rate in 2022-23 – a significant tax saving for employees and employers. This adds up to one of the most comprehensive support packages in the world for the transition to zero emission vehicles.

The Government has been supporting vehicle manufacturers, technology companies and academia in delivering a major programme of R&D into cleaner vehicle technologies. For example, we announced nearly £40m investment in 12 projects to support innovation in wireless and on-street charging technology to encourage uptake of electric vehicles.

The Prime Minister announced that we are also consulting on proposals for chargepoints to be installed with all newly built homes in England, where appropriate, and on the introduction of smart chargepoints. To improve the consumer charging experience, we want to see all newly installed public rapid and higher powered chargepoints to offer debit/credit card payment from Spring 2020.