Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what limitations they have identified with respect to meeting the dates planned for banning the sale of new petrol and diesel internal combustion motor cars.

The Government has set out ambitious targets for the transition to zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) and has identified three key areas which we are supporting to make that ambition a reality:

1. Vehicles - Government grants have been in place for over a decade to help reduce the up-front purchase price of electric vehicles. Grants remain in place for harder to transition vehicles along with favourable tax incentives. In addition, as the global transition to electric vehicles quickens, the recently announced ZEV mandate on new cars and vans will ensure the UK’s share of ZEVs increases.
2. Infrastructure – The Government is aware how important the reliability and availability of chargepoints are for EV drivers and its EV Infrastructure Strategy sets out its plans to accelerate the rollout of EV chargepoints. The rollout of EV charging infrastructure will be supported by the Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) fund and the Rapid Charging Fund (RCF). The LEVI fund will support local authorities to work with industry and transform the availability of charging infrastructure for drivers without off-street parking. The RCF will future-proof the electrical capacity at strategic locations to support ultra-rapid en-route charging.
3. Energy system - The Government expects the transition to EVs to create significant new demand for electricity, and it has mechanisms in place to cope with this. The capacity market is the Government’s principal tool for ensuring security of supply and is supported by the Contracts for Difference scheme which supports significant investment in low carbon generation.

With more than one million plug-in vehicles on UK roads and industry figures showing that one in five new cars sold in 2022 had a plug, we are on track for mass adoption of zero emission vehicles over the next decade.