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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