The Chair of the Transport Select Committee in Parliament has admitted that his own proposals for drivers to be charged per mile could slow the switch to electric vehicles.
The Telegraph quotes Conservative MP Huw Merriman as conceding that his idea to replace vehicle excise duty with a distance-based tax would be a “disincentive” to buy an EV before petrol and diesel car sales are outlawed in 2030.
It quotes Mr Merriman as saying, “All road users will need to pay to use the road because otherwise we won’t receive any funds from it, and that will mean electric vehicles.
“But the Department for Transport’s key target is to increase the uptake of electric vehicles, so our report is providing a disincentive to that.”
It says he was speaking at an event organised by the Policy Exchange think tank where he insisted that the need to repair the hole in the public finances outweighed the need to promote sales of electric vehicles.
(Picture – Yay Images)
