The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee has launched an inquiry into the challenges faced by Britain’s nascent market for electric vehicles.
The issues it will cover include charging infrastructure, incentives for uptake and how best to integrate electric vehicles into the government’s new industrial strategy.
“If the UK is to meet its decarbonisation goals and move successfully to a prosperous low carbon economy, then a thriving electric vehicles market is vital,” said committee chair Ian Wright.
The inquiry will assess how the government’s approach to “picking winners” can used to best exploit the opportunities which arise from the technology. “It will take a close look at the factors holding back the electric car market and examine options for how it can be better supported,” added Wright.
The committee will also examine concerns that electric vehicle sales are not as high as they should be, possibly because consumers are being dissuaded from going electric due to a “postcode lottery of charging infrastructure”.
It will seek to determine the best way for the government to ensure consistent charging infrastructure across the whole of the UK and what financial support should be given to motorists to help them to buy electric vehicles once a grant scheme ends in 2018.
The deadline for submissions in 13 April 2017. The inquiry is expected to feed into a broader innovation inquiry due to be launched in the coming month, the committee said.