The United Kingdom Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) published their strategy for ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) on 4 September 2013.
This vision for the future has been long awaited as the Government has made some practical options to encourage the take-up of OLEVs in the past, notably the fuel escalator on the common vehicle fuels and the car road fund tax, which is linked to the carbon emissions of the vehicle.
However, these tax mechanisms have played their part in encouraging drivers to value the fuel that they use in the current vehicles but has done very little to promote a clear strategy for the use of OLEVs for the UK.
Now that the document is available, there are some key elements of the vision for OLEVs within the UK marketplace, which include:
- A buoyant fleet and private market with every new car and van an ULEV by 2040 and an effectively decarbonised fleet by 2050 to meet the UK’s Carbon Plan targets
- The creation of supporting infrastructure to enable convenient refuelling
- A smarter electricity grid benefiting both vehicle owners and the electricity system.
The document describes key commitments within the strategy, which include:
- Keeping the existing plug-in vehicle grants until at least May 2015
- Maintaining a strong, clear and lasting set of tax incentives for the purchase of ULEVs
- Clarifying the tax position for ULEVs with HMRC
- Working with industry on an initial network of around 65 hydrogen fuelling stations
- Over £500m funding from 2015 to 2020 to continue to support the growing market for ULEVs.
The strategy document can be downloaded at: http://bit.ly/18uzhvQ