The recent acceleration in electric vehicle uptake in the UK may be at risk if the government continues to subsidise fossil fuel cars, according to a sustainability expert at Economist Impact.

Martin Koehring, senior manager for sustainability at Economist Impact – the Economist Group company behind the rEV Index – told Kallanish on Tuesday the government has supported conventional car drivers by freezing fuel duties for a decade. 

“This is an implicit subsidy to petrol and diesel consumption, while EV grants have been cut recently. Such mixed policy signals threaten to weaken the recent acceleration in EV uptake, at a time when the government could send clearer signals that consumers need to get ready for the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030,” he says.

Last week, automotive data showed an all-time high EV uptake of 18.5% in the country during 2021. This share corresponded to 190,727 new all-electric (BEV) and 114,554 new plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV) registrations. Adding the sales of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), the UK electrified vehicle market share reached 27.% last year.

Koehring believes subsidies will eventually have to be phased out, but “it may be too soon to cut down subsidies for EV buyers” now, when the UK ranks the second-lowest on the rEV Index for policy incentives.

The index backed by bp shows the UK ranks seventh out of nine in terms of its overall readiness when compared to leading EV markets such as Norway, China and Germany. To improve the ranking, the country needs to speed up progress in affordability and charging infrastructure, notes Koehring.

That’s because the short-term cost of switching to EVs is higher for consumers in the UK than in many other markets, he says. According to the rEV Index, it costs 1.3 times more to own an EV than its petrol/diesel equivalent over a three-year period. To tackle this, the government needs to intensify its efforts to steer buyers towards EVs through “financial incentives at the time of purchase and to reduce the lifetime cost by providing subsidies, minimising taxes and reducing other charges such as parking fees and tolls,” adds Koehring.

When it comes to charging infrastructure, the government needs to look at both the availability of a charging point and its rapid charging capability. Regional disparities must be addressed to accelerate EV uptake across all parts of the country over the next decade. Today, London has roughly 30 times the number of charge points for every 100 kilometres compared to the UK average, according to Koehring, who also heads the Economist’s World Ocean Initiative.

The rEV Index compares the UK with Norway, China, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Italy, France and Spain, providing also regional comparisons within the country. In the overall readiness rank, the UK is only ahead of France and Spain, although its purchase incentives are lower than both countries.