The Government’s electric vehicle obsession is a war on motorists
Story by Ross Clark • Yesterday 7:37 AM
First the good news: car sales are looking quite perky, in spite of the cost of living crisis. In the first four months of the year 627,250 new cars rolled off the forecourt. Over the same period in 2022 it was 536,727. But now the bad news, at least for the government: sales of electric cars are running out of juice.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has downgraded its sales forecast for electric vehicles. It now expects 18.4 per cent of total sales to be pure electric cars, rather than 19.7 per cent as previously forecast. And in my view, even this new projection looks optimistic. So far this year only 15.4 percent of sales fell into this category, a smidgeon up from 14.4 percent in the same period last year. Still the most popular by far are the pure petrol models.
The stalling appeal of electric cars is a serious problem for the industry because, from next year, manufacturers will be obliged to ensure that at least 22 percent of their car sales have zero tailpipe emissions. Incidentally, don’t fall for the “zero emission” description; there are still plenty of carbon emissions in their manufacture and in generating the electricity to power them, while their brakes and tyres are responsible for particulate pollution.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/the-government-s-electric-vehicle-obsession-is-a-war-on-motorists/ar-AA1aMrHL?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=fb5b33c79582408dbe9e7e2594353896&ei=41
