The UK Government is ending their plug-in car grant scheme. The grant was first kickstarted in 2011, and since then it has provided over £1.4 billion of support that has allowed the purchasing of half a million electric vehicles (EVs). There was a rise of 70% in the sale of fully electric vehicles in the last year alone.
The government are now refocusing their plans when it comes to low-carbon vehicles due to the success of the grant scheme, in regards to the sale of electric vehicles and as EVs have become more affordable for owners and the costs of operating them have lowered. Therefore, the UK Government is now planning to put £300 million of funds into increasing the use and sale of plug-in motorcycles, taxis, wheelchair accessible vehicles, vans, and trucks.
They are also putting together plans to expand the funding to establish a public charging network.
The government stated that they will be decreasing the funds for the plug-in car scheme between 2022 and 2023, and they have confirmed that the grant scheme was only meant to be temporary.
A statement published on the 14th of June claimed that the grant scheme has “successfully kick-started the UK’s electric car revolution”.
