The Government has committed an additional £620 million to support the transition to electric vehicles (EV).

The spending pledge has been made as a part of the Government’s Net Zero Strategy, and will be used to help with introducing more charging facilities. This will include a particular focus on providing residential charging, as well as plug-in vehicle grants.

In August, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps committed to making EV chargepoints an iconic British sight, that would be “as recognisable as the red post box or black cab”. The new design is set to be unveiled in November at COP26.

The EV transition has also been growing in popularity in recent times – 32,731 EVs were sold in September, with three purchased for every new diesel car that was bought. 

Edmund King, AA president, commented: “The AA supports the moves towards Net Zero and believes that EV incentives can help us along that road.”

“This new charge point funding targeted more at the 8 million households without dedicated off-street parking is a welcome step which will give power to electric drivers.”

“With the cost of petrol and diesel rising, the desire to switch to electric is stronger than ever before. Should the Chancellor go a step further next week and scrap VAT on targeted new EV sales, he would deliver a truly electrifying Budget that could ‘Get Electric Done’.”

“However, the introduction of a ‘Zero Emissions Vehicle Mandate’ is probably unnecessary. Manufacturers are already taking big steps in order to meet the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars and vans, but bringing in this ‘Red Tape’ exercise could harm car production plans already in place.”

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