Government Ends Remaining EV Subsidies

[SammyD]

The UK government is ending the last remaining subsidies for electric cars, arguing it will free up funds to expand the charging network and support other battery-powered vehicles.

In a controversial move, the government has closed the £300m plug-in car grant scheme to new orders on Tuesday, the Department for Transport said.

The main industry body said the move will leave the UK as the only big European country without any incentives for electric cars. Carmakers said the decision was not a surprise but “hugely disappointing”.

The government said the grants had created a mature market for ultra-low emission vehicles, helping to increase the sales of fully electric cars from fewer than 1,000 in 2011 to almost 100,000 in the first five months of 2022 alone.

Source:

Government pulls plug on its remaining UK electric car subsidies

DfT says it wants to focus funding on expanding the public electric chargepoint network

www.theguardian.com

I am a bit fuzzy on the laws and regulations here but from the sound of it, this is going to end up raising the prices of EVs again in the future. They did this to keep prices lower and more affordable so more people would drive EVs and hybrids but not everyone has made the transition yet. I am a good example. I am only just now shopping around. I hope this doesn't cause the prices to go up in the near future!

 

[Matty]

I can understand why they are ending them. I wouldn't worry too much about the costs changing. There were not many of them left to begin with and you likely would not have qualified for any huge savings at this point anyway. All that was done years ago.

 

[SammyD]

I didn't realize the majority of them had already ended several years ago. I guess it would help if I actually read the entire article! Thanks for pointing that out Matty.