Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what environmental impact assessment his Department undertook when deciding to reduce the (a) maximum grant for electric cars from £3,000 to £2,500 and (b) price cap for cars eligible for the subsidy from £50,000 to £35,000.

No formal Environmental Impact Assessment has been carried out. The grant scheme for electric cars, vans and trucks has been updated to target less expensive models and reflect a greater range of affordable vehicles available, allowing the scheme's funding to go further and to help more people make the switch to an electric vehicle. This will mean the funding will last longer, and be available to more drivers.

We have been clear since 2018 that we intend to reduce the Plug-in Car Grant. We are retaining support for the switch to electric vehicles through other, new investments. We’ve pledged a £2.8 billion package of measures to support industry and consumers to make the switch to cleaner vehicles, which includes:

• £1.3bn for charging infrastructure;
• £582m to continue to support the vehicle grants, which have now been in place for 10 years; and,
• Up to £1bn to help secure the transformation of the automotive sector by developing and embedding the next generation of cutting-edge automotive technologies in the UK.

These measures are in addition to our generous tax incentives, including favourable company car tax rates, which can offer savings of over £2,000 a year for drivers switching from a medium-sized petrol or diesel to a zero-emission car, and zero Vehicle Excise Duty.