Speeches by Mather.

“You have to develop policy to reflect the changes that are taking place within the automotive sector. That is why eVED needed to be introduced, in the sense that we have to find a way to continue to maintain our road network and think about the contribution that fuel duty currently makes to the public finances. In term…”

“You are absolutely right. One campaign alone cannot do the amount of work that needs to be done. We are out here making the positive case for EVs because it is clear that, once people have experienced them, they do not want to go back. That does not change the material point you have made that we need to ensure this ma…”

“I just repeat that timelines have not changed under this Government. I am cognisant of the point you made about the different track that was taken under the last Government, because they could see the ambition and the challenge inherent in facilitating this transition. This Government are not interested in walking away…”

“Good morning, Chair and Committee members. I am Keir Mather, the Minister for Aviation, Maritime and Decarbonisation at the Department for Transport.”

“We have not sprung this on people, to the extent that the eVED proposal does not come into effect for two years. If you already own an EV, you will still, under the eVED proposals, be paying less than you would otherwise have paid in fuel duty. If you combine that with accessing home charging, you unlock the benefit. B…”

“Might it be worth pointing to the consultation?”

“Thank you for that question. I also have freight in my portfolio. Given the impact on the haulage sector of what is happening in the middle east, this conversation is more pertinent than ever. If we cannot facilitate HGV operators making that switch, they cannot benefit from the resilience that a decarbonised grid can …”

“Thank you, and welcome to the Committee. That is an incredibly important point. On what the ECG facilitates, and how that allows lower and middle-income households to take part in the EV transition, around 100,000 vehicles have been sold through the ECG. You can have up to £3,750 off the cost of a new electric vehicle.…”

“Yes. That is not to say that there are no challenges in meeting it. Debate is ongoing within the automotive sector. I was at SMMT Electrified a few weeks ago and got some robust questions on this exact point. I do not think people in the automotive sector doubt the principle of the 2030 phase-out date—in fact, it serve…”

“You do well to correct me, Chair—thank you.”

“Yes.”

“Oh no, I certainly don’t want to give the impression that everything is fine, and we are just going to leave it to evolve as it wishes to. The Government are actively working in partnership with the charge point sector, for instance, to drive the transition, because that is necessary. We are trying to convince the publ…”

“No.”

“I don’t think so, because the Government made changes to ensure that the ZEV mandate does what it is supposed to, which is allowing us to meet our climate obligations while also making a good business case for the automotive sector. What has not changed is the timelines. That is the key difference between the previous …”

“Absolutely.”

“We are exploring a lot of these questions through the HGV emissions regulation consultation. I don’t want to pre-empt the response to it, but what I will say is that, as in a number of other sectors, a number of factors are influencing demand in this market, and it feels like the lever that the Government have is over …”

“I’m not sure about your constituents, Baggy, but I think mine would argue that there is never a right time to introduce a new tax. Nevertheless, it is unfortunately necessary because the Government are determined to make the EV transition a reality. We want to get to a place where EVs are the dominant form of car trans…”

“That is a good question. The grant for motorcycles is not being continued for now. The Government have to be extremely conscious of ensuring that we put money into forms of transport decarbonisation that yield the greatest decarb benefits. In terms of uptake, we think that the market for zero emission motorcycles is he…”

“The challenge is that EVs are heavier vehicles across the board, by the nature of their design.”

“That is a very fair challenge and certainly one that I will take away. There is an inherent complexity in ensuring that the charging network suits our coach sector, which was an interesting thing that you managed to tease out of the previous witnesses. It is not, as you said on freight and logistics, point to point or …”