The chancellor has allocated £600 million to help drive the uptake of electric vehicles, but fleets are still waiting on what that will mean for the future of the plug-in car and van grant.
The Government previously announced that the grant would be available until at least February 2016 for all categories of vehicle.
However, with that deadline fast approaching, fleets had expected to hear what the new scheme would look like in yesterday’s Autumn Statement.
Instead, while the Government said it will spend more than £600m between 2015-16 and 2020-21 to support the uptake and manufacture of ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEVS), there were no details on what incentives may be available in the future.
A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesman told Fleet News an announcement would be made in “due course”.
But, fleet decision-makers’ body ACFO says that decision can’t come soon enough.
John Pryor, ACFO chairman, said: “Earlier this year, the Government announced that it would replace the flat £5,000 grant with a three-tier structure linked to a car’s emissions and zero emission mileage range.
“We know the current flat £5,000 grant will remain in place until at least February next year, but that is only a few weeks away.
“The Government wants the corporate sector to drive demand for plug-in vehicles and with still no announcement on the structure of the new grant it is, once again, difficult for fleets to plan their company car decision-making long term.”
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Gareth has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist having started his career in local newspapers in the 1990s. Prior to joining Fleet News in 2008, he worked in the public sector as a media advisor and is currently news editor at Fleet News.
Sage & Onion - 26/11/2015 15:02
This shows that the government and the chancellor have no clue about fleet issues. How can they in one hand abolish the removal of the 3% diesel tax supplement, which will force many drivers and fleets to take a serious look at petrol, hybrids, PEHV's and EV's but yet not give any long-term commitment to those options either? It means that leasing companies can't or won't quote for them either if supporting grants are uncertain. So I predict that we will be left with no choice but to stick with diesel in the main and get skinned for the tax. And don't forget the NIC increases too! Not much focus has been put on that cost increase so another windfall for the treasury! But at the end of the day, this government has now proven that they can not be trusted and so we can no longer rely on any "commitment" they give to be honoured.