91探花

Sheena McGuinness, head of renewables and cleantech at 91探花 reacts to the latest data: “Good to see EVs bucking the downward overall trend with record growth, up 24.5% to reach a 20.7% share of the market in October. The increase in available models and further discounting has brought the cost of some EV model lower than the average petrol and diesel cars, which is shaping behaviour. However, at 18.1% of the market new EV registrations still sit behind this year’s target of 22%. 

“We could see the £200m announced in the budget to accelerate the EV charging network rollout help to boost this trend further, despite the lack of clarity on how the rapid expansion will be delivered. It is anticipated that this might translate into increased funding for public charging points and increasing on-street charging options through additional support for local authorities.

“The surprising freeze on fuel duty will mean that tax won’t necessarily provide the “stick” to make drivers switch to EVs as there will be no higher taxes at the petrol pumps next year as expected. 

“However, the draft legislation to tackle the perceived contrived employee car ownership schemes, could challenge the car industry as it relies heavily on this model for more than just a good benefit to provide its employees; it is helping to drive EVs sales. If the government does push this through, it could slowdown or even reverse the direction of travel. Particularly when you combine this move with other incentives that are falling away such as vehicle tax applying to EVs from April 2025 and the 100% discount for electric delivery vans ending this December – making electric motoring more expensive in 2025.

“To incentivise behaviour, levelling up the VAT treatment on charging could be a key driver – bringing the VAT rate of 20% on public charging points down to the 5% VAT domestic charging rate removing some of the extra cost.”