Trade association EVA England launched its 2024 manifesto yesterday (14 May), identifying the key priority areas to spur growth in England’s electric vehicle (EV) market.
Launched in Westminster, the manifesto addresses key priority areas that could become apparent due to the growth of the EV market in England. This will help facilitate further adoption and prevent major barriers that are likely to be encountered in the near future.
Five key pillars are central to the manifesto. These include fairer charging costs, liberating charging provisions, lower insurance premiums, enforcing accessibility standards and democratising EV uptake and driving demand.
Under fairer charging costs and provisions, EVA England believes that the VAT, which is applied in full on public charging only, should be addressed to reduce costs. FairCharge has also been campaigning for this, and it released an open letter on the topic in early March 2024.
The VAT applied to EV charging in public stands at 20%, heavily contrasting with the 5% applied to private charging.
The reduced rate of VAT is known as the ‘de minimis’ provision, as detailed by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in 2021. It applies if the electricity supply is ongoing, to a person’s house or building and has a total output of less than 1,000kWh per month.
Another key pillar in the manifesto is the right to charge. Under this, the organisation outlines that “we need to make it easier for people to charge at home and at their place of work”. Indeed, several barriers exist in this space, and thus, removing these could help promote growth and adoption rates.
EVA England stated that businesses need more encouragement to install chargers; renters should have the right to use install chargers; and those who don’t have a driveway, but could, should be permitted to install a gully in their pavement.
The final pillar looks at facilitating a just transition for EV adoption rates. The EVA has highlighted that EV adoption rates are concentrated amongst higher-income households. As such, more must be done to accelerate adoption rates amongst middle-to-lower-income households.
One way this can be achieved is through salary sacrifice schemes, the introduction of targeted social leasing schemes and 0% loans.
EV adoption rates continue to soar
For the new car market, SMMT data showed that April saw growth in new EV registrations for the 21st consecutive month.
However, EV volumes for this year have been revised downwards by -5.2%, with the anticipated market share now 19.8%, significantly below the government target of 22% per manufacturer under the Vehicle Emissions Trading Scheme.
While EV uptake rose 10.7% – bringing the market share to 16.9% for new vehicles – fewer than one in six new EVs bought in April went to consumers.
In March, the Lloyds Banking Group released its Future of Transport report, which recognised the progress made in the EV sector over the last year, despite the transport sector remaining the largest emitter of UK greenhouse gases.
According to the report, close to 60% of participants said the expense of an EV was the main factor preventing them from switching. A lack of charging infrastructure was mentioned as a barrier by over half of participants.
