Dear Ed Milband – Open letter to Energy Secretary on reducing EV charging costs and vehicle emissions

 

Rt Honourable Ed Milliband
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
HM Government
Westminster

From: CampervanCo
Denny & London

Date: October 2024

Re: Making EV charging cheaper and better – encouraging drivers out of their diesel vehicles and into low and zero-emissions alternatives.

Dear Ed Miliband – Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero,

CampervanCo warmly welcomes your announcement that the Labour government will be re-instating the 2030 deadline for the ban on new sales of petrol and diesel vehicles (ICE).

CampervanCo is one of many pioneering companies up and down the country that have invested heavily in vehicle technology to reduce emissions so the industry and the country can reach that goal and achieve net-zero by the end of the decade.

The previous government’s delay to 2035 was made in bad faith and jeopardises much of the hard work and enormous investment the industry has made in meeting the 2030 target.

We strongly believe this move was influential in slowing the switch away from dirty polluting vehicles to lower-emissions hybrid and electric.

This short-sighted move put at risk not just the many thousands of jobs that rely on the public and the industry making that switch but also the chance of the environment recovering from vehicle exhaust gases that contribute 10% of greenhouse gases and pollute our cities causing untold harm to their inhabitants.

We also warmly welcome your admission and honesty that enough is not being done to encourage the people from switching to non-polluting fuels. You announced this week your department’s review of EV charging infrastructure. This is to be commended.

If we get this wrong, we risk recent efforts to clean up and improve the industry being lost for another decade. If we get it right, we can move quickly and proudly to a cleaner, emissions-free transport system.

There are a range of incentives the government can do that will encourage more people to make the switch. Norway, a country with similar climate and social challenges has been a shining light in this pursuit.

They have the largest number of zero emission drivers in the world, with the uptake of EVs reaching over 90% since 2022 and the country bringing forward their ban on new ICE sales to 2025 – just months away. 

Norway did this using a range of carrot and stick policies. For example, they offer significant and sustained tax breaks for purchase and use of EVs. They brought in higher fossil fuel costs to disincentivise gas guzzlers. EV owners have access to widespread and cheap charging points, free public parking, free or reduced costs ferry travel, bus lane use, and finance and scrappage schemes for those struggling to afford the switch. 

Wider social measures are also crucial for areas, mostly cities and those living in flats, where EV ownership and charging pose challenges for people without drives and charging points (that others can access very low-cost, green electricity from their suppliers). Low-cost street charging is an obvious option. As is a reliable a public transport system that encourages people out of their dirty diesel or petrol cars into cleaner alternatives.

The City of Manchester is an example where difficult decisions, a lack of charging points, switching costs and a poor transportation infrastructure delayed the introduction of a Low Emissions Zone. The costs of this delay are yet untold but the estimate of it being re-introduced in 2026 is now looking optimistic – with tons of CO2 and other pollution levels breaking legal limits and the health of its citizens being compromised daily. Friends of the Earth believe the delay in Manchester has led to 1,000 premature deaths there every year.

Change is vital, but these are often not easy choices for politicians who must react to the unpopularity of difficult choices. Once politicians like yourself make them, many expect and rely on them being seen through. Industries like ours rely on the word of politicians to plan and innovate. We love a challenge, and we love opportunity. Others, like those living in Longsight, Manchester where 40% of children there have asthma, depend on your seeing them through.

London has a been a pioneer of low emissions zones LEZ and is an incredible success story, in the face of much opposition and in pushing through with cleaning the air. London is lucky. It has an enviable public transport system that is years and £billions ahead of anywhere else in the UK. In Manchester for example only three out of ten boroughs have Metro tram stops and some have no trains at all, whereas in London all 32 of the boroughs there have underground, overground trains and a linked bus network.

We seek clarity from your department and incentives to help people get rid of their old cars, be able to afford electric or hybrid ones and be able to charge them easily at a much lower cost than diesel or petrol. If people don’t see the benefits of ditching their polluting cars – they won’t.

Schemes, such as EV car members groups, that give ordinary people access to clean and easy to use electric cars in cities is a simple and low-cost example of ideas that work and people like. Public charging points that make use of solar power and are open to all – and that work and are maintained regularly – are also popular.

In Scotland, a national scheme that offer residents in every constituency good and low-cost charging points is still very popular, tempting many away from their diesel cars. Many are located in free Park & Ride areas, offering low-cost charging while you get the electric bus into town. Incentives to encourage people to buy EVs through workplace finance schemes are also useful. As are grants to install private charging points and help to install solar and low-power heating systems.

The costs in the long run will be less both in terms of public health, but also through a cleaner, modern and efficient economy serviced by an effective transport system that improves everybody’s lives. It will also make us happier. We positively encourage people to visit nature in all its glory in vehicles that don’t cost the Earth – figuratively and in environmental terms.

Bring on the change.
We are ready.

Come and see us!

Best regards and many thanks in advance Ed!

Gary and The Team from CampervanCo
Est. 2006 – Reducing emissions in Denny, London and everywhere
CampervanCo are pioneers in low and zero-emissions multi-use vehicles.