Plug-in vehicles, plugged in policy - Transport Committee Contents


Conclusions and recommendations


Demand

1.  We recommend that the Government promotes public understanding of the availability of infrastructure and the support available for plug-in vehicle purchases. There should be provision in Plugged-In Places funding to undertake such initiatives. (Paragraph 13)

2.   We regret the Treasury's decision to change the financial incentives framework for low carbon vehicles without prior consultation. Such unexpected changes to these incentives risk creating instability in the market for plug-in vehicles. (Paragraph 15)

Departmental underspend

3.  The DfT should clarify the reasons for the underspend in its low carbon vehicle programme. (Paragraph 18)

Standardisation

4.  Making sure that vehicle owners can access chargepoints across the UK should be a priority in the DfT's plug-in vehicle strategy. The DfT should set out how it will work to remove barriers to chargepoint access across the country. (Paragraph 24)

5.  The DfT should set out how it intends to reach agreement in the EU on the type of infrastructure to be used as standard for plug-in vehicles. (Paragraph 25)

Chargepoints and registrations

6.  The DfT should evaluate the effectiveness of the provision of public infrastructure in encouraging consumer demand for plug-in vehicles. (Paragraph 31)

7.  An accurate and comprehensive registry of chargepoints installed by the Plugged-In Places scheme should be made available within the next six months. Publication of a full registry should encourage private chargepoint providers to upload their data for public use. We recommend that it be made a requirement of Plugged-In Places funding that details of the location of chargepoints installed using this funding are uploaded to the National Chargepoint Registry. (Paragraph 32)

Conclusion

8.  The Government must avoid creating instability in the plug-in vehicle market through a lack of consistency between departments in their approaches to financial incentives for plug-in vehicles and adopt a more coordinated approach to these incentives across Whitehall. (Paragraph 34)

9.   We recommend that as part of the next spending review, the Government set milestones for the numbers of plug-in cars it expects to see on the roads so that the success of its low carbon vehicles strategy can be assessed within that spending review period. (Paragraph 35)



 
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Prepared 20 September 2012