By Andrew Leech, founder and MD of Fleet Evolution  

Andrew Leech, founder and MD at Fleet Evolution and head of the Mercia Fleet Management division

We are currently hearing from various motor manufacturers that the Government needs to do more to incentivise EVs to overcome the current hiatus in the EV market. This will be required to help them meet their Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate targets, which are increasingly onerous as we approach the 2030 deadline for the abolition of new ICE cars.

I’d like to make two broad points regarding this current situation which is making headline news. The first is that the vehicle manufacturers have known about the ZEV mandate targets for almost a decade but have repeatedly refused to grasp the challenge. All too often in the early days, we saw manufacturers going to great efforts to hinder the introduction of EVs, rather than embrace the change and opportunity.

It is this hesitation which has not only caused the current position, but also allowed new brands such as Tesla to drive huge market growth in a demand space that existing brands simply did not want to fill.

However, I still believe the Government needs to do a lot more to remedy this situation, rather than blindingly insisting we move to all-EV production by 2030. This has two major ramifications; the first is that this insistence is treating consumers and manufacturers like children without considering the issue in depth.

The problem is that children rebel and grow stubborn, leading to the passionate and often false anti-EV claims that we increasingly see. This encourages a small minority of buyers, who may have legitimate reasons, not to opt for an EV. And it also blinkers those who could very easily make the transition, but refuse to do because it’s an instruction from government, which creates a closed-off mindset.

Over 50% of people we surveyed this year had strong objections to EVs despite never having driven one! Only imposing a change in this way can lead to this level of negative feeling!

The second ramification is that the motor industry, which regularly looks to government for subsidies to support new initiatives, hold out for government action rather than innovate themselves – and then complain accordingly.

Another problem with the 2030 deadline – just five years away – is simply that we, as a society as a whole, will not be ready by then.

Some 60% of the motoring population could probably transition now as the majority of charging can be done at home simply, cheaply and cleanly and with no impact on the grid as it’s typically overnight.

However, that leaves 40% of the population who cannot charge at home, who are not ready and for whom seemingly there is no plan.

There is no coherent strategy to introduce widespread street charging or even to encourage private sector technology, such as charging gulleys, so that those in terraced housing, for example, can charge outside their house.

This is a classic example of a lack of joined-up thinking. While a small handful of authorities accept it, the majority have not even considered it. If widely available, vehicle manufacturers or leasing/salary sacrifice suppliers could provide this as an incentive as they regularly do for charge points at drivers’ homes.

Unfortunately, the financial argument does not make sense if drivers have to charge publicly.  Once public charging costs above 50p/kWh, you lose any fuel-saving advantages, and may have to drive a few minutes from your house to try and use a charge point that may not be available.

And when the Government increases the minimum wage as it has done in the Budget, it take more employees out of qualification, making the route to electric more expensive and unattainable for many.

We have customers who used to take 100 cars via salary sacrifice but, as the minimum wage has increased, they can no longer take advantage of these schemes and now have just 20 or so cars for back-office staff.

Used EVs for the lower paid are also a problem; not because used EVs are expensive compared to similar age ICE cars, but because there are so few models around pre-2020, so even used costs tend to be beyond the reach of some. For households who might pay £2,000 for a used car, we are a decade away from enough supply.

And, of course, we need plentiful supply to convince the sceptics that older EVs are more reliable than older petrol or diesel models. This is a tough ask with a horse you have led to water and are trying to force to drink!

Electric cars are simply amazing; remove the obstacles and the product will sell itself!