Govt Reducing EV Grants.....increase adoption by lowering/removing grants......of course!!

[rockits]

I was very interested to see synthetic fuels breaking though fully usable on existing ICE cars. Porsche seem to have had some great success with suggested 80% reductions in CO2 emissions on existing ICE cars.

The issue is low production and high cost about £6 per litre at the moment although that will reduce as demand and production increased.

I fear this won't come to much though even though it seems a great option as it doesn't fit with the current political wills or desires.

No point doing the best or right thing of course. It is much more important we increase debt, increase spending and most importantly make sure govt cronies are financially well oiled of course.

Imagine if we kept existing ICE cars on the road for another 20 or 30 years with huge reductions in CO2. Now that wouldn't work as many many less new cars would be sold.

 

[Zep]

The problem with synthetic fuels is that it will take a very long time to get production to the point where it could replace current usage, if at all.

So it is going to be a way of keeping old ICE cars on the road / track. Which is great news in my view.

Regarding the subsidy, it’s not really a surprise it is going away. It was a cherry on an already very nice tasting cake from a financial point of view. £5k makes sod all difference to someone with the cash or credit to buy an EV, and the savings in tax and fuel costs more than make up for it. To base a decision on buying one or not based on a government subsidy seems a bit like cutting your nose off to spite your face. If the EV model fits your usage and saves you money, then do it, if not, don’t.

 

[rockits]

One thing I feel it demonstrates to me is the correct govt feeling. It feels like those financial incentives and benefits are.gojng to be reduced/eroded very quickly now.

With a shocking support and adoption of the charging infrastructure I have little to no interest in taking an EV now. The speed of the reducing support and sentiment of the govt says it all to me.

It kind of proves that they have no reall heavy or committed desire to do the right thing so it is all about tax/numbers.

I agree it is great to see the option of synthetic fuels supporting our V8's for years to come...at what cost though is my fear. I feel I should be assuming the position.

 

[bigbob]

One thing I feel it demonstrates to me is the correct govt feeling. It feels like those financial incentives and benefits are.gojng to be reduced/eroded very quickly now.

With a shocking support and adoption of the charging infrastructure I have little to no interest in taking an EV now. The speed of the reducing support and sentiment of the govt says it all to me.

It kind of proves that they have no reall heavy or committed desire to do the right thing so it is all about tax/numbers.

I agree it is great to see the option of synthetic fuels supporting our V8's for years to come...at what cost though is my fear. I feel I should be assuming the position.

They've been doing 'the right thing' for the last decade and a half letting government debt run up and keeping taxes and interest rates low to protect families and incomes. I am not as much of a bear on macroeconomic policy as Wattie but we can't keep on living like we are.

As for EVs, subsidies will inevitably fall as volumes rise but these economies of scale will lead to unit price falls and EVs will get actually cheaper. It's classic pump priming and, anyway, for households with two cars this will allow them to run the smaller car as a BEV with 95%+ of charging done at home and then keep a petrol or petrol hybrid as the main, larger car for longer journeys. This way the charging infrastructure is not really relevant.

 

[rockits]

If the prices of EV's or at least come into line with equivalent ICE pricing then I don't see the need for the grant at all. However, it seems we are a lttle way off that yet.

There is a list of fairly average cars that no longer qualify now so only basic smaller/cheaper cars will qualify.

Government cuts electric car grant from £3000 to £2500 | Autocar

Electric cars costing more than £35,000 will now no longer be eligible for the incentive

www.autocar.co.uk

 

[mjheathcote]

They knocked the free road tax on the head from March 2017 for electric/hybrid cars. They have to get the revenue in from EVs going forward.
At that date point can be the difference between paying 0 road tax a year, to suddenly paying nearly £500!

 

[rockits]

So this video kind of mirrors my thoughts and is what I feel is going on here. There is no reason for EV's to be so expensive in the UK.

They are just because the UK will pay it!

 

[Wack61]

There going have to pay me lots of money to stop me driving around in petrol powered cars!

Until this battery shite stuff gets below 15k for something that worth buying, except for the fat wallets out there, no one can afford the buy them!

Dave

Your wish is granted if you're German , after the €9570 German grant the Dacia EV is €10,920 , what's that about 10k

 

[rockits]

Wow, that German grant seems at odds to our UK grant now. Are they generous or right?

 

[Wack61]

Wow, that German grant seems at odds to our UK grant now. Are they generous or right?

I was sat in Lidl car park yesterday , looked around and most cars were 5 - 15 years old , anything newer is likely a company car or on PCP / PCH

If the government wants to meet their 2030 targets the registrations of electric cars are going to need to go up , a lot

Germany obviously understands most people haven't got 30k to spend but 10k with no fuel costs , a lot will be changing to electric

 

[rockits]

I don't see we will achieve our targets...why would we? We never do. A long line of failed targets, over ambition and underachievers.

To do this properly needs strong political will and desire...also deep pockets. We have none of those.

Many years ago the govt setup a govt dept tasked with funding to support increased speed/breadth rollout of fibre Internet. What a joke that was and why we are always playing catch up. If we had spent big 10 years ago and been bolder/braver we would be where we need to be now. It also would have been way way cheaper than it is going to be now.

 

[lozcb]

Nah, just history repeating itself; politicians can't help themselves.....

Ah this old chessnut Sony's beta versus VHS we already know who going to win and it aint Elon Musk, the real question is ...............are we going to get complete control of the fully autonomous hydrogen version where we fill up the tank with water, or the latter where all the oil companies and powers that be, take full control of distribution and taxation ................cynical me thinks the latter

 

[Phil H]

We will get whatever our E.T. masters want us to have. When the vaccine and 5G rollouts are complete the zombie state takes over and only a handful of folk will even want to travel let alone be allowed to, they will mainly be:

The heads of pharma companies and world leaders who pretended to have the jab but didn't.
Donald Trump, his vaccine was given to a stand-in.
Bolsonaro, the only man who made the sane decision not to vaccinate.
Boris Johnson's dad.
Meghan Markle, because her only true friends are the aliens who live under her mansion in LA.
Greta Thunberg, consultant to the E.T.'s on the subject of human failings.
The pilots of private jets operated by all of the above.

The rest of us will be assigned duties as befits our status, and my advice is to put as many miles on your Maserati as you can and while you can, for it is only a matter of time before huge numbers of homosapiens are teleported via Mars to Uranus - as a rite of passage.

I know this because I received a telepathic message, and luckily remembered it when I woke up.