Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce long-term incentives to increase sales of low-emission vehicles to help meet carbon reduction targets.

Government grants for plug-in cars, vans, taxis and motorcycles will be available until at least 2020, reducing the upfront purchase price of electric vehicles. The plug-in car grant was first introduced in 2011 and the other schemes in the years since. Purchasers of ultra-low-emission vehicles also receive other benefits, including lower tax rates and grants towards the installation of charge-points. A number of local authorities also provide additional incentives, such as free parking or exemption from the congestion charge. We stated in our Road to Zero strategy that consumer incentives in some form will continue to play a role beyond 2020. We also set out ambitions for the uptake of ultra-low-emission vehicles in the UK. We remain on track to meet these ambitions and will review progress by 2025.

In addition, as announced this week, to accelerate the shift to zero-emission cars, all zero-emission models will pay no company car tax in 2020-21, 1% in 2021-22 before returning to the planned 2% rate in 2022-23 – a significant tax saving for employees and employers.