CaliPorsche
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- DAVE
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- Jul 14, 2023
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- California ??
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- 2020 Taycan 4S, 2022 Cayenne S, 964 Widebody Speedster, AMG
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Behind paywall so here is the story….
Hopes for the mainstream adoption of electric cars have been punctured by figures revealing a fall of more than 11 per cent in the sale of zero-emission vehicles to private buyers.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has said that motorists are holding back from the switch because of continued uncertainty about whether a government ban on petrol and diesel cars will be enforced, the cost of electric vehicles, the cutting of financial incentives, and fears about the lack of a public recharging network.
Ministers and the industry have previously hailed rising sales of electric cars as a sign that Britain is ready to move from the “early adopter” stage of battery electric vehicle (BEV) ownership to mass market.
However, the number of electric cars bought by private owners has fallen from more than one in three of the BEV market to less than one in four in just a year. Figures for the first half of the year showed a 32 per cent surge in BEV sales to 152,000 cars, accounting for a sixth of all new registrations.
However, detailed data reveals that private motorists have stopped buying.
The vast majority of new BEV registrations this year — more than 75 per cent — were with fleets and business owners, which can take advantage of company car tax breaks, the benefits-in-kind regime and salary-sacrifice schemes that mean running an electric car attracts dramatically less tax.
In the first half of this year, 37,000 new electric cars were registered to private retail-buying motorists, or just 24.2 per cent of all BEVs. That is down from the 41,800 BEVs sold to private motorists in the first half of last year when retail buyers accounted for 36.3 per cent of all electric car sales.
The fall coincides not only with the cost of living crisis but also with the scrapping of the “plug-in car grant”, which at one stage was worth up to £5,000 off a new electric car.
A report from the trade body, highlighting the stalled electric car private buyer market, said: “A faster and fairer mass transition [to zero-emission vehicles] is threatened by the absence of support for private buyers, many of whom plan to go electric but are delaying due to concerns over affordability and uncertainty regarding the availability of a charging network.”
Speaking at the launch of the report, Alex Smith, the managing director of Volkswagen UK, said his company’s definition of an “affordable” mass market electric vehicle would be its €25,000 (£21,500) ID.2 all-electric car due to launch in a couple of years. That price, however, is more than 50 per cent higher than the cheapest petrol cars.
Mike Hawes, the chief executive of the trade body, said: “We are ready to move from the ‘early adopter’ to the mass adoption stage of electric vehicles but there needs to be incentives for the private buyer that match the fleet buyer.”
He said ministers should look at cutting VAT on electric cars and at public recharging points and reversing the decision to start charging electric car owners vehicle excise duty.
Hopes for the mainstream adoption of electric cars have been punctured by figures revealing a fall of more than 11 per cent in the sale of zero-emission vehicles to private buyers.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has said that motorists are holding back from the switch because of continued uncertainty about whether a government ban on petrol and diesel cars will be enforced, the cost of electric vehicles, the cutting of financial incentives, and fears about the lack of a public recharging network.
Ministers and the industry have previously hailed rising sales of electric cars as a sign that Britain is ready to move from the “early adopter” stage of battery electric vehicle (BEV) ownership to mass market.
However, the number of electric cars bought by private owners has fallen from more than one in three of the BEV market to less than one in four in just a year. Figures for the first half of the year showed a 32 per cent surge in BEV sales to 152,000 cars, accounting for a sixth of all new registrations.
However, detailed data reveals that private motorists have stopped buying.
The vast majority of new BEV registrations this year — more than 75 per cent — were with fleets and business owners, which can take advantage of company car tax breaks, the benefits-in-kind regime and salary-sacrifice schemes that mean running an electric car attracts dramatically less tax.
In the first half of this year, 37,000 new electric cars were registered to private retail-buying motorists, or just 24.2 per cent of all BEVs. That is down from the 41,800 BEVs sold to private motorists in the first half of last year when retail buyers accounted for 36.3 per cent of all electric car sales.
The fall coincides not only with the cost of living crisis but also with the scrapping of the “plug-in car grant”, which at one stage was worth up to £5,000 off a new electric car.
A report from the trade body, highlighting the stalled electric car private buyer market, said: “A faster and fairer mass transition [to zero-emission vehicles] is threatened by the absence of support for private buyers, many of whom plan to go electric but are delaying due to concerns over affordability and uncertainty regarding the availability of a charging network.”
Speaking at the launch of the report, Alex Smith, the managing director of Volkswagen UK, said his company’s definition of an “affordable” mass market electric vehicle would be its €25,000 (£21,500) ID.2 all-electric car due to launch in a couple of years. That price, however, is more than 50 per cent higher than the cheapest petrol cars.
Mike Hawes, the chief executive of the trade body, said: “We are ready to move from the ‘early adopter’ to the mass adoption stage of electric vehicles but there needs to be incentives for the private buyer that match the fleet buyer.”
He said ministers should look at cutting VAT on electric cars and at public recharging points and reversing the decision to start charging electric car owners vehicle excise duty.
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