Electronic Vehicle Projected Sales “Wildly Optimistic”

The head of the Office for Low Emission Vehicles has branded the UK government’s expectation that domestic and fleet electric car sales would boom as “wildly optimistic” and has criticised their projection figures.

In an article written for the Civil Service Quarterly Blog, Head of the Office for Low Emission, Richard Bruce, has claimed that budgets and projections made by the UK government in relation to the future of domestic and fleet electric cars are based on "miscalculations" from car companies on the number of green vehicles they expected to sell.

A £400 million package had been launched to foster interest in the “electric car revolution” - including £5,000 grants for drivers buying the vehicles. But the pot has now been slashed to just under £230 million as demand and interest snowballed.

Mr Bruce claims “media hostility and consumer anxiety” as an additional pitfall in the scheme, despite significant advancements in the technology and the creation of over 6,000 charging points throughout Great Britain.

He said: “Initial projections and budgeting were based on the car companies’ estimates of how many units they would sell, which turned out to be wildly optimistic.

“There are other issues as well. For the first few years very few cars were available. If you wanted to buy an estate to fit the dogs in the back, or a sports utility vehicle you had to buy a petrol or diesel car. That’s now changing, with manufacturers bringing a wider range of vehicles to market."

Nevertheless he said things are turning a corner and the shift to greener vehicles is "inevitable".

Meanwhile, some company's have reportedly signed up to an electric vehicle (EV) trial to help them understand if the vehicles are fit for purpose.

The £9 million My Electric Avenue project will look at issues surrounding EV technology and what could potentially occur if high levels of Electronic vehicles charge in one location at the same time.

Your Homes Newcastle based on Tyneside – which currently has a fleet of 43 low emission vehicles - is keen to assess the long-term potential of electronic vehicles and the impact it could have one its business.
Your Homes’ Environmental Sustainability Co-ordinator, David Henry, explained: “When we heard that there was an opportunity to form a business cluster and to test the impact of multiple vehicle charging from our own head office, it was the opportunity we’d been waiting for.

“Six charge points have been installed at our offices and will be put to daily use when the vehicles are delivered in the coming weeks.

“I’m using this as an opportunity to investigate the introduction of EVs more generally into our organisation’s fleet.”

 (image courtesy of digitalart / freedigitalphotos.net)