Scale of EV push will be on par with the Olympics, says minister

An Olympic-style drive across government will be required to eradicate emissions from the transport sector, the minister handpicked to oversee these efforts has admitted.

George Freeman, who was appointed the first minister for transport technology and innovation last summer, told the House of Commons this week that that he was “determined” to keep Britain on the move while slashing greenhouse gases.

Summing up a debate on decarbonising transport, he said: “If we are to achieve this objective, which we are determined to do, it will require not just science and not just devolution for modal shift; it will require, I suggest, a pan-government approach on a par with that which we took in the build-up to the Olympics—a genuine decarbonisation Olympiad, which will need to happen on a cross-party basis and inspire the next generation with the belief that we can do it.”

Freeman said that approaches for cutting emissions from aviation, road, rail and shipping will all be outlined in the government’s transport decarbonisation plan, which will be announced “shortly”.  Decarbonising transport will also require a substantial devolution of powers in this area to local authorities, he added.

Earlier in the debate, former education secretary of state Damian Hinds had suggested the idea of a mass test-drive campaign across the country to encourage ordinary motorists to try out electric vehicles (EVs).

“The product has to be in the consideration set. Whatever other cars consumers look at buying or hiring, they should at least think about an electric vehicle”, he said.

And consumer confidence in EVs could be bolstered by increasing the visibility of charging points, he added: “Non-users of electric cars need to know that there are plenty of places to charge them.”

Hinds also called for efforts to increase uptake of EVs by rolling out charging points to be focused on areas where heavy concentrations of such infrastructure already exist.

“Areas that already have quite a high concentration of charging points benefit from network effects, and we could concentrate on building up the number of electric vehicle users there.

And the Hampshire MP urged the Treasury to give a “clear forward view” on the future levels of vehicle excise duty in order to help consumers make decisions about whether or not to buy electric models.