The government is making its own EV target impossible to hit

As expected, there was no financial support to incentivise the uptake of electric cars in the chancellor’s budget this week. And with a general election now being tipped for as early as May, it’s extremely unlikely that any support will be forthcoming this side of autumn – if ever. 

Several car makers have reacted furiously, the underlying sentiment being that EVs have been pushed to buyers at a set percentage whether they want them or not and car makers are the ones on the hook if they don’t reach that threshold.

As a reminder, the UK needs to get EVs to 22% of car sales this year but has been stalled at 16% for several months now.