Once again, Boris Johnson is set to move the goalposts for the roll out of electric vehicles on British roads.
According to reports over the weekend, the Prime Minister will this week bring a planned ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars forward to 2030.
The government had earlier said the current ban on selling new petrol or diesel cars would be brought forward from 2040 to 2035 as part of efforts to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Now, even the most passionate advocates of an electric car revolution are wondering if the UK can really be ready for an electric car future in time.
“To fully electrify the market – and safeguard our critical manufacturing base and jobs – we will need more than an arbitrary date,” says Mike Hawes, the chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
“It will require a Herculean effort from Government, including a truly world-beating package of incentives to encourage uptake of battery electric and essential hybrid stepping-stone vehicles – and the mandating of massive investment in charging infrastructure.”
An end to the sale of new petrol and diesel cars would mark a huge shift in Britain’s automotive market.
Industry figures show that petrol and diesel powered cars accounted for 73.6pc of new car sales so far this year, while just 5.5pc of sales were for pure electric vehicles, which are typically more expensive. Hybrid vehicles of various types made up the remaining sales.
The government is set to invest £500m in tens of thousands of charging points across the country. Efforts are also underway to dramatically increase the UK’s battery recycling capability. However, experts warn that that the Treasury will need to invest £10.3bn a year to make these changes stick.
The need for a rapid increase in the amount of charging points for electric vehicles is one of the most pressing issues that needs to be addressed for Number 10.
Research published earlier this year by the International Council on Clean Transportation found that the UK had 22,613 public or workplace charging points at the end of 2019, which represented just 5pc of the amount likely to be required in 2030.
Around 70pc of electric car users are likely to charge their vehicles at home, but a network of charging points is vital to support their use across the country.
One way to speed up their roll out is by tweaking planning regulations, making it easier for businesses to gain permission to install the stations.
A Tesla charging station in China
Credit: Reuters
“Planning policy should set out clear support for delivering a charging infrastructure giving policy support for network enhancements, and loosening restrictions on permitted development,” says Neil Bromwich, an energy and infrastructure planning partner at law firm Osborne Clarke.
But such small changes aren’t enough to unlock the country’s electric car future. “[They} need to be accompanied by legislative changes to allow access to public and private land to build the infrastructure,” Bromwich adds.
An exponential increase in the number of Britons charging electric vehicles could also require upgrades to the National Grid.
“Most infrastructure when it comes to electrical cables was not designed to send 50, 100, 200 kilowatts of power,” says Carlton Cummins, the chief technology officer of Acceleron, a British company producing reusable batteries.
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This increased demand could be managed by electricity suppliers launching more smart charging services which only charge electric vehicles during the night when power is cheaper.
“You can charge them up flexibly during off-peak times,” says Fiona Howarth, the chief executive of Octopus Electric Vehicles. “As long as we have smarter charging solutions, then you can actually typically manage that home charging with the infrastructure that we have in place.”
Cummins, however, sees a radical rethink of the UK’s ability to manufacture and reuse batteries as key to keeping electric cars on the road.
"This is where we see a large opportunity for energy storage, where batteries tend to behave a bit as a buffer,” he says. "The reason why we have such a challenge today with reusing a lot of batteries is actually that many of them were not made with the next stage of their life in mind."
He believes the Government should encourage electric vehicle manufacturers to change the way they design batteries to make them easier to disassemble, because the UK simply doesn’t have enough facilities for recycling.
But if the UK were to invest in these facilities then it could help solve the problem of a lack of charging points as many repurposed car batteries could be used to help store energy at electric vehicle charging points, Cummins suggests.
Throwing money at building charging points and battery facilities isn’t the only solution, however. Experts are also encouraging the Government to change its procurement processes now so that it can lead the rest of the country on its adoption of electric vehicles.
“Central Government has around 25,000 vehicles and local authorities have 50,000,” says Luke Murphy, an associate director at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), “switching to an all-electric fleet much sooner will help bring down the cost of them as well.”
Just 1% of vehicles sold this year are battery electric
The IPPR has estimated that a switch to electric vehicles across the country will require £10.3bn in funding per year. Where’s the money going to come from?
Murphy says part of the funding gap could be raised by increasing fuel duty. “I think there is a case for increasing it over time,” he says. Raising taxes on petrol and diesel cars to fund electric vehicles is a neat idea, but a gradual switch to electric cars over the next decade will see that income dwindle over time.
The Government’s expected public announcement of a 2030 ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles should help nudge the private sector in the right direction, giving it clarity on where the transport sector is headed so that it can help make up the funding shortfall now.
“It looks challenging but actually by setting the target it means we’ll be in a much better place and it will focus minds in the public and private sector as well,” Murphy adds.
Switching the UK over to an electric car future by 2030 is going to be a tricky task, experts agree, but all believe it is possible with a concerted effort from the Government and the private sector.
“Our international competitors, Norway and India, have already set bans,” Murphy says, “it’s eminently doable.”
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