The government is consulting the automotive industry over the troubled timetable for ridding our roads of fossil-fuel vehicles, and the question is: will the switch to electric cars be delayed because we’re all too poor?
The last Tory government delayed the date at which sales of petrol and diesel vehicles would be banned to 2035, but Labour vowed to reset it to 2030 in its election manifesto.
But car industry leaders have warned drivers were not switching to electric vehicles at the rate needed to meet the deadline due to the cost of buying the cars privately – we simply don’t have the money.
Is this a result, not just of the 14 years in which the Tories have progressively removed money from society’s poorest and given it to the rich – but of more than four decades of corrupt neoliberalism that was always intended to do the same?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
There is also the question of whether enough charging point infrastructure can be installed in time.
Manufacturers like Ford are saying they want the government to offer incentives for people to buy electric vehicles – but there’s a problem with this: the government has spent the last six months saying there’s no money available.
Meanwhile, the government has also decreed that in 2024, 22 per cent of a manufacturer’s car sales in the UK must be electric vehicles, and 10 per cent of van sales – with a penalty of £15,000 per sale against firms failing to meet these targets.
So it seems to This Writer that manufacturers are justified in feeling the government is offering all stick and no carrot.
Companies can avoid fines by buying “credits” from firms that have exceeded their quotas for electric car sales. They can also “borrow” allowances from future years. But isn’t this just storing up penalties for future years?
According to the BBC,
The government’s eight-week consultation aims to gather views on which cars can be sold alongside zero emission vehicles from 2030, including full hybrids and plug-in hybrids, as well as the strategy for vans and the policy for small volume manufacturers.
Those views are likely to be unpalatable for Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.
It seems that, while more than two-thirds of car manufacturers in the UK have committed to transitioning fully to electric cars by 2030, car production here fell by more than 15 per cent in October, compared with the same period in 2023, apparently due to weak demand and a significant decrease in exports.
Electric and hybrid vehicle production saw an even steeper decline, falling by one-third due to flagging European demand and factory retooling for new models.
What did this mean for the car firms? The answer should be obvious:
It led to thousands of job losses.
And this at a time when Labour is trying to claim it is boosting the economy.
Is this the Law of Unforeseen Consequences in action?
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Will the switch to electric cars be delayed because we’re all too poor?
The government is consulting the automotive industry over the troubled timetable for ridding our roads of fossil-fuel vehicles, and the question is: will the switch to electric cars be delayed because we’re all too poor?
The last Tory government delayed the date at which sales of petrol and diesel vehicles would be banned to 2035, but Labour vowed to reset it to 2030 in its election manifesto.
But car industry leaders have warned drivers were not switching to electric vehicles at the rate needed to meet the deadline due to the cost of buying the cars privately – we simply don’t have the money.
Is this a result, not just of the 14 years in which the Tories have progressively removed money from society’s poorest and given it to the rich – but of more than four decades of corrupt neoliberalism that was always intended to do the same?
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
There is also the question of whether enough charging point infrastructure can be installed in time.
Manufacturers like Ford are saying they want the government to offer incentives for people to buy electric vehicles – but there’s a problem with this: the government has spent the last six months saying there’s no money available.
Meanwhile, the government has also decreed that in 2024, 22 per cent of a manufacturer’s car sales in the UK must be electric vehicles, and 10 per cent of van sales – with a penalty of £15,000 per sale against firms failing to meet these targets.
So it seems to This Writer that manufacturers are justified in feeling the government is offering all stick and no carrot.
Companies can avoid fines by buying “credits” from firms that have exceeded their quotas for electric car sales. They can also “borrow” allowances from future years. But isn’t this just storing up penalties for future years?
According to the BBC,
Those views are likely to be unpalatable for Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.
It seems that, while more than two-thirds of car manufacturers in the UK have committed to transitioning fully to electric cars by 2030, car production here fell by more than 15 per cent in October, compared with the same period in 2023, apparently due to weak demand and a significant decrease in exports.
What did this mean for the car firms? The answer should be obvious:
It led to thousands of job losses.
And this at a time when Labour is trying to claim it is boosting the economy.
Is this the Law of Unforeseen Consequences in action?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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