Bright Blue, the independent think tank for liberal conservatism, responds to the announcement of the Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan, which adopts Bright Blue’s policy of ensuring all 40,000 vehicles in central government’s fleet will be fully zero emission as soon as possible.
Commenting, Patrick Hall, Senior Research Fellow at Bright Blue, said:
“The Government’s commitment to electrify its fleet of 40,000 cars and vans is a laudable one. As well as reducing emissions, this will have the added benefit of increasing the supply of zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) into the second hand market, giving those on more modest incomes an opportunity to go electric. However, the Government needs to go further in helping those on more modest incomes, by introducing a Used Plug-in Car Grant for second hand ZEVs. It is imperative that the market for battery electric vehicles – both new and used – grows substantially over the next decade if the UK is to meet its legal net zero 2050 emissions target.”
In February, Bright Blue published Driving uptake: maturing the market for battery electric vehicles proposing new fiscal and regulatory policies to mature the market for new and used battery electric vehicles in the UK, including that all new vehicle purchases for the public fleet, both for central and local government, should be electric vehicles.
