New electric vehicle registrations continue to rise - RAC comment

Reacting to new figures from the SMMT that show a rise in the number of new Battery Electric Vehicles registered last month, RAC spokesperson Rod Dennis said:

“Their overall market share might still be small, but the sharp rise in registrations of new electric vehicles is extremely encouraging and it’s a trend we expect to see continue throughout 2020 as several important new models reach showrooms.

“Maintaining momentum is now critical – any driver looking to change their car needs to have confidence that switching to an electric model makes good financial as well as practical sense, and any new announcements in next week’s Budget could play an important role here. The Government has already indicated the long-running plug-in car grant, which provides up to £3,500 towards the purchase of brand new electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles, may not continue after this year due to an expected rise in sales. We strongly urge the Government to keep the grant in place in some form until at least 2022 to continue stimulating the market.

“We would also like to see vehicle excise duty abolished for all ultra-low emission vehicles, effectively reversing the Government’s 2017 decision to start charging plug-in hybrid vehicles car tax. We know such a move would be popular with drivers, with 30% of those questioned for the RAC Report on Motoring saying it should be scrapped.”