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Government announces cuts to electric motorcycle grants
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The Department for Transport has announced changes to the plug-in grant scheme, which will exclude electric motorcycles priced over ￡10,000 and likely limit the money off mopeds to just ￡150.To get more news about ebike, you can visit davincimotor.com official website.
Previously, all new road-registered electric bikes would receive a price reduction of ￡1500 or 20% - whichever was smallest at the point of sale. However, new plans will see battery motorcycles priced up to ￡10,000 receive 35% off, up to a maxiumum of ￡500 and mopeds get 35% off, up to a value of ￡150.
Announced on Wednesday, December 15, as part of a larger revision to the plug-in scheme, the DfT says these changes have been made to help funding go further – with ￡582 million pledged to continue the grants until at least 2022-2023.Chief Executive of the Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA), Tony Campbell, criticised the plans, saying: "This is not a way to incentivise the consumer to think electric and buy electric products. What this will do, clearly, is it suddenly completely changes the landscape of the affordability of an electric power two-wheeler.
"If you're looking at one of the cheaper model Zeros for around ￡10,000, that ￡1500 could've been the difference, or the motivator."
A prime example of this would be the A2-compliant ￡12,300 Zero FXE - one of the firm's cheapest motorcycles, which will now no longer be entitled to any money off. Under the old scheme, it would've been ￡10,800.
The announcement also leaves high-end electric machines from the likes of Harley-Davidson, and Energica exempt from a grant, but Campbell believes the real impact will be felt in small capacity electric mopeds and scooters, where they are proving to be popular."￡150 is 10% of what the previous grant was, so they've taken 90% away," the MCIA boss continued. "It's purely spreadsheet politics. It's not about decarbonisation, it is about the fact that they've probably overspent on other sectors and now we're clearly paying the price as well.
"Moped category vehicles make up roughly 50% of the market now," he continued. "In most cases, the grant - as it was - fundamentally aligned an electric powered two-wheeler with its internal combustion engine equivalent, which is why we've seen such a success rate in the grant and its impact in sales.
"The moped category this year will probably end up with around 10,000 vehicles - half of which will be fully electric," he added. "If you look at the 50% it looks like a fantastic success story, but this is only the tip of potentially what the iceberg could look like.
"Therefore, it's ridiculous at this point, to change the grant when it has been so successful."On top of the grant revisions, the announcement went on to pledge improvements to the UK charging infrastructure in 2022, with over 27,600 charging devices now publicly available.
The official statement continued: "Earlier in the year, government consulted to improve the consumer experience at public electric vehicle charge points. Next year we will introduce new rules that will increase confidence in our electric vehicle charging infrastructure.This will mandate a minimum payment method – such as contactless payment – for new 7.1kw and above charge points, including rapids.
"Consumers will soon be able to compare costs across networks in a recognisable format similar to pence per litre for fuel and there will be new standards to ensure reliable charging for electric vehicle drivers."