With vague COP26 climate-change summit promises safely in its rear-view mirror, and a veritable blizzard of parliamentary scandals offering the opportunity to quietly bury less contentious bad news, the Department for Transport has dumped much of the plug-in grant subsidies for electric powered two-wheelers.
Electric mopeds, which previously benefited from a subsidy covering 20% of purchase price up to £1500, now get 35% up to a paltry £150. The same price percentage switches also now apply to electric motorcycles, while maximum subsidies fall from £1500 to £500.
Furthermore, machines in either category must henceforth have OTR prices under £10,000 to be eligible for any grant whatsoever, excluding virtually all larger headline products on the market.
This brutal cost-cutting exercise, designed to stretch available funding until 2023, is inevitably a huge embarrassment to the MCIA. Having so obsequiously nailed industry colours to the government’s electrification mast, absence of advance notice or consultation by the DfT looked like a deliberate put-down. Aggrieved condemnation swiftly followed.
“It is with great disappointment the government has decided to drastically cut the level of support for mopeds and motorbikes, typically emitting zero or low-emissions,” complained MCIA chief executive Tony Campbell. “This announcement comes as a hammer blow to consumers and businesses up and down the country, who are fully behind the drive to zero-emission vehicles and a net-zero future.”
However, forelock-tugging didn’t stop either. Campbell added that the MCIA remains committed to working with government, even though the DfT has just gratuitously slammed a door in the industry’s face.
