Today's UK Budget Wants You To Buy An Electric Car
The UK Budget has brought good news for people buying plug-in cars, as well as investment in charging technologies and self-driving cars.
It’s not such good news for diesels, though, although you’d have to have been living in a cave not to have seen diesel road tax rates bumped up.
A £100 million extension to the plug-in car grant scheme means people will continue to get thousands of pounds off the price of a new plug-in car. Full-electric and plug-in hybrids will all qualify.
Another £100 million will go towards the charging infrastructure in the UK, funding the installation of charging points, while £40 million has been earmarked for research and development, apparently specifically including charging.
Chancellor Philip Hammond stated that he wants to put Britain at the pointy end of the global push towards new technologies, of which automated cars are collectively one facet.
Diesel’s days are clearly numbered, too, with most oil-burners currently on the road facing a higher road tax banding from the next tax year. A single-band rise will add about £20 to a typical annual bill.
Early reports say that it will certainly include everything up to and including Euro 5, with the various stages of Euro 6 causing some confusion at this stage as to whether they’ll be included or not.
Lorries and vans will be unaffected, which might seem bizarre since they pollute more per vehicle than cars, but it seems to be an attempt to keep inflation down. If delivery firms’ costs go up, the consumer suffers. Plus, there are not yet any viable alternatives to diesel for vans and lorries.
The silver lining is that fuel duty has been frozen again, so instead of paying what would have been about £1.50 per litre by now we’re still below £1.20. The continued halt makes this the longest fuel duty freeze for 40 years, although why there was ever an escalator built into it in the first place we have no idea.
Comments
Oh so the normal people pay taxes to pay for others’ cars… So much for Democracy…
Well even as a car guy, those cars do help other people…
Yes… Even for hybrids like the BMW i3… I paid for James May’s i3… Actually no because I live in Deutschland.
communism
ˈkɒmjʊnɪz(ə)m/Submit
noun
a theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs.
synonyms: collectivism, state ownership, socialism, radical socialism; More
I’m sorry but this has nothing to do with the political concept of democracy. It’s a fiscal thing, nothing else
Pay taxes for other people’s cars?
You’ll have to explain that one to me, as nothing here states that you are paying taxes to fund someone else’s car. You pay tax on your own vehicle.
Let me think about it
How about I️ just buy an mx5 instead
YES
Miata Is Always The Answer
I support.
Yup, buy a miata and turbo it!
Any country without this budget willing to let me in? Please?
Not even portugal
You have a Polo 1.2 - thus you are unaffected by the proposed hike in old diesel taxation.
Fuel Duty has been frozen so you wont see any change at a petrol station outside of oil price fluctuations.
We’ve been needing extra funding for a charging infrastructure that actually works.
Nothing here affects you negatively.
James May, James May, stealing from the rich;
James May, James May, stealing from the poor;
HE STEALS FROM THE RICH, AND HE STEALS FROM THE POOR;
AND WHAT MORE, THAT IS SO,
APPPPAAALLLLLLLLIIINNNNGGG.
Nearly works…
I’m gonna fly over there, and just roll coal all over every electric car I see.
I like this idea
F**K OFF Budget
This is actually a good thing because we need to end our dependence on fossil fuels
Getting downvoted for stating an actual fact on the consumption of fossil fuel and its monolithic influence over nearly every industrialised country. Welcome to CT bud.
As much as I dislike electric cars, I don’t see any other way going forward. I mean the oil will last for just a few more years before it goes extinct. And electric cars are the ones that can save that oil for fun in the long run… or hopefully come up with a different fuel source to power our cars. :)
Yeah great, but don’t try and force people to adopt an emerging technology which isn’t quite ready yet. Because it won’t work. There’s a reason electric cars aren’t mainstream (for now at least). This tax won’t achieve anything except making people poorer. It certainly won’t make many people go electric.
[laughs in American V8]
Could you keep your laughs to when your country won’t be the only first world country besides China to disagree on the need to take basic care for this planet over the argument that the president was cold once, please
Portugal is doing the same, problem is that gas costs 5 a gallon
Thank god I’m heading back to New Zealand in 3 days time then. I have nothing against electric cars, the tech is great. I just don’t want one