EVs manufactured in Asia, including in China, are expected to be excluded from new UK electric car purchase incentives once strict new criteria is applied, including penalising battery manufacturing in countries with carbon-intensive grids.
The Electric Car Grant is backed by £650 million of government funding and will knock up to £3750 off the price of a new EV.
The offer of funding is a win for the UK automotive industry following months of fierce lobbying to help ease some of the burden of having to hit the strict EV sales target imposed by the ZEV mandate.
However, the money will be hard to access. “The criteria for qualification looks quite tough,” former Nissan executive Andy Palmer told Autocar. “I’m in contact with several OEMs and they still don’t know which models will qualify”.
The basic criteria is easy to understand, such as the requirement that qualifying cars must be zero-emission and cost under £37,000 (although higher trim levels can exceed that figure and still qualify, providing that an entry model with the same battery starts below it).
Cars must also be offered with a battery warranty lasting for 100,000 miles or eight years, with an agreement to replace the pack if it falls below 70% capacity during that period.
However, the deciding factor that determines whether a car falls into the highest band-one category for the full £3750 grant or band two for £1500, or is excluded altogether, is based on its environmental score – and that’s where qualification process becomes opaque.
The score is based on the manufacturing location of not just the car but more importantly the battery cells. If the country of manufacture in question generates much of the power for its national grid from fossil fuels, then the car is denied a grant.
The cell source accounts for 70% of the environmental score, while vehicle assembly contributes just 30%.
The government has said that all cars are assessed equally and the environmental score element is to “incentivise more sustainable manufacturing practices”, but the underlying purpose is pretty clear.
“Let’s call a spade a spade, this is probably looking to penalise cars that are produced in China,” Tim Dexter, UK vehicles policy manager for green pressure group Transport & Environment, told Autocar.
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