Poll: Is the government right to scrap the plug-in car grant scheme

The government has scrapped the plug-in car grant scheme, an initiative launched in 2011 to help bridge the upfront price difference between ultra-low emission cars and their internal combustion engine equivalents.

The government argues that the scheme has helped to mature the EV car market and that it is switching its attention to other forms of electric vehicle such as vans, motorcycles and taxis. It is focussing also on widening the availability of EV chargepoints.

Reaction has been mixed, with SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes stating the decision ‘sends the wrong message’ to motorists and the automotive industry.

Nicholas Lyes, RAC’s head of policy, said that cost remains a hinderance to wider EV adoption, arguing that ‘having more on the road is one important way of making this happen’.

The BBC, however, quotes Oliver Lord, head of the Clean Cities Campaign, as saying that public money should be put towards a scrappage scheme to help people on low incomes switch from polluting vehicles.