This morning the Government released its ‘Road to Zero Strategy’, which sets out to improve the infrastructure for electric and alternatively-fuelled vehicles.
Transport secretary Chris Grayling announced the plans that aim for 50 per cent of new car sales to be ultra-low emission by 2030 – with the initiative set to be “the biggest technology advancement to hit UK roads since the invention of the combustion engine”.
This strategy will work alongside the government’s plan to end the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, with the policy also outlining the idea of every vehicle on British roads to be zero-emission by 2050.
As part of ensuring consumers will have access to charging points, the strategy outlines a £400 million Charging Infrastructure Investment fund that will speed up the deployment of charging points – with the government hoping to include charging points for all new houses and street lights found near on-street parking.
As it stands, hybrids will not be banned by 2040 and the government is open to all technological solutions to help with cleaning up the country’s roads.
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Chris Grayling said: “The coming decades are going to be transformative for our motor industry, our national infrastructure and the way we travel. We expect to see more change in the transport sector over the next 10 years than we have in the previous century.
“We are expecting our economy and society to experience profound change, which is why we have marked the future of mobility as one of the 4 grand challenges as part of our modern Industrial Strategy.
“The Road to Zero Strategy sets out a clear path for Britain to be a world leader in the zero emission revolution - ensuring that the UK has cleaner air, a better environment and a stronger economy.”
As of last month, alternatively-fuelled vehicles made up 5.5 per cent of new car sales in the first six months of 2018, which was up from 4.2 per cent in the same period of 2017.
