Road to zero: NFDA comments

“NFDA welcomes the Government’s continued commitment to support the uptake of electric vehicles while it acknowledges that conventional engines will continue to play an important part in the years to come”, said Sue Robinson, Director of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) which represents franchised car and commercial vehicle dealers in the UK, commenting on today’s (9 July 2018) Road to Zero Strategy.

The Government has today published its Road to Zero Strategy outlining how they will support the transition to zero emission road transport, while reducing emissions from conventional vehicles.

It has been confirmed that all new cars and vans will need to be effectively zero emission by 2040. In addition to this, at least 50%, and as many as 70%, of new car sales will need to be ultra-low emission by 2030. There are no plans to ban any particular technology.

Positively, the Government has stated that the plug-in grant and the Electric Vehicle (EV) home-charge scheme will continue until respectively 2020 and 2019. In addition to this, the levels of the Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) have been increased to provide up to £500 off the installation costs of charging sockets deployed at workplaces for consumers and fleets.

Robinson continued, “It is encouraging to see that the Government endorsed the automotive industry’s position, that ‘the most appropriate vehicle technology will depend on individual circumstances, including location and usage pattern’.*

“Positively, the Government stated that ‘cleaner diesel cars and vans can play an important part in reducing CO2 emissions’ during the transition to zero emissions. We support the Government’s statement that diesel vehicles’ air quality impact must continue to be reduced for these cars to play their part and we are confident that the new, stricter standards will prove crucial.

“We are pleased to see that the Government is continuing to use vehicle excise duty (VED) as an incentive to adopt low emission vehicles and that this has been addressed within Road to Zero. However, NFDA believes that the VED system is in need of further review, especially with regard to diesel. We will communicate our vision for VED to Government and will be looking to Chancellor’s Autumn Budget for further announcements on the issue.

“Going forward we will continue to work closely with the Government and other industry partners to ensure clear and consistent messaging for our members and, ultimately, the consumer.”