UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a number of key climate and clean energy announcements as part of the government’s Autumn Budget on Wednesday (30th October).
The country’s clean energy sector generally responded positively to the announcements, but with some criticisms in certain areas.
UK rapid charging network Osprey Charging welcomed the maintenance of tax benefits for working people who lease or buy electric cars.
“These are vital to incentivising more consumers to drive electric and to the continued growth of ‘private driver’ EV sales” said Ian Johnston, CEO, Osprey Charging Network. “We look forward to seeing the Government maintain a strong ZEV Mandate this autumn to allow the UK to truly realise the multi-billion pound opportunity that the eMobility sector can bring to the UK”.
Asif Ghafoor, CEO of national EV charging network Be.EV also welcomed the maintenance of incentives for EVs, in company car tax, which accounts for 40 percent of all vehicles on the road.
"This is the easiest and quickest way to accelerate the EV transition is to get companies and employees to switch to EVs en masse" said Mr Ghafoor. “The £2 billion investment into the EV sector manufacturing is also welcome. There’s no need to spend £200 million on charging – key charge point operators in the private sector have already committed £6 billion to drive the sector forward. Anything which gives us more confidence to deliver this funding is welcome. The only way to speed up the EV transition is to get people to feel good about EVs again. We don’t need money but the next thing the Government to do is to finally bring the 2035 ban back to 2030 as promised and get the transition going even faster."
VEV, providers of end-to end EV transition solutions from EV fleet strategy through site design to operation, was pleased to see that the Government’s prior commitment to reinstating the 2030 ICE ban is becoming a reality, along with the announcement of the necessary funding and incentives required. Mike Nakrani, CEO, VEV said that this was a positive step to help the UK reach its net zero targets and that continued support is critical to achieve the necessary electrification transition in the country.
“Fleets are leading the way in the shift to EVs, and the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate will help drive this transition, but carrots are needed with the sticks in the shape of infrastructure funding and incentives” said Mr Nakrani. “With 10 percent of the UK’s total carbon emissions coming from fleets, the sector represents a major win in the quest for net zero. By supporting the implementation and maintenance of electric fleet operations, the Government can accelerate our progress towards the nation’s sustainability objectives.”
The government has also provided over £200 million to accelerate the public charging infrastructure rollout, which according to Dr Kieran O’Regan, co-founder and COO of battery software start-up About Energy, “demonstrates the government's ongoing focus on enabling wider consumer adoption of zero-emission vehicles.”
“Importantly, the budget also recognises the strategic importance of building up the UK's battery manufacturing capabilities” Dr O’Regan added. “With dedicated funding for gigafactories and additional support for automotive R&D, the government is taking steps to nurture the country's ecosystem. Sustaining this level of investment will be crucial for the UK to solidify its position as a leader in electric mobility.”
Mike Reid, Head of Energy at property consultancy Galbraith, welcomed the budget but added that it could have gone further with regard to the renewables sector, conceding that it shows that the government is making an ongoing commitment.
“The investment in green hydrogen and gigafactories is very positive” said Mr Reid. “These technologies have the potential to deliver huge benefits.”
Mr Reid added that the focus shouldn’t just be on renewable power production but also on making the country more energy efficient.
“Whereas we welcome the announcement about the Warm Homes initiative, this doesn’t go far enough to help achieve the energy efficiencies really required” Mr Reid said. “And more investment is required in this sector to stimulate change for the better.”
Christophe Williams, CEO of Naked Energy, said that net zero goals haven't been properly addressed in the budget and that heat decarbonisation has been woefully neglected.
"Heat demand is something that takes up nearly 40 percent of the UK's total emissions" Mr Williams added. "So it's critical to our climate goals that we tackle it. The Warm Homes Plan is a great scheme for the residential sector, but we need to be treating the commercial and industrial sector with the same amount of prominence. It’s baffling that we’re not seeing much policy on this front as its industry that demands the most heat, but is the hardest to decarbonise. It’s here that the Government needs to step in. The continued commitment to the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme should be viewed as the bare minimum, and we can’t rest on our laurels if we to decarbonise our heat demand. We’ve already seen over a decade of inaction when it comes to heat decarbonisation, and the climate crisis isn’t getting better."
Dr Jon Hiscock, CEO at Fundamentals, described the government’s new house building targets as a “missed opportunity to create more low carbon homes, at the same time as GB Energy has been established to help make Britain a clean energy superpower.”
“We don’t just need more homes; we need more low carbon homes” Dr Hiscock said. “And today’s budget was a missed opportunity to combine ambitious house building targets with policies that increase the uptake of low carbon technologies and invite households to move towards cleaner, more secure electricity. As a bare minimum, the default specification for all new homes should include supplier-interactive smart meters, solar panels and EV charging points, with battery storage and ground source heat pumps where possible. But it doesn’t just end there. The grid also needs targeted reinforcement through existing technologies to ensure effective voltage management and load balancing for an increasing number of low carbon devices with the intermittent power supply from cleaner, renewable forms of energy.”
Dr Hiscock welcomed the establishment of GB Energy as a long-term vision to attract investment, saying that it “will offer a long-term vision that can be used to create the conditions which will attract much-needed private sector investment into a low carbon energy system.”
“However, another issue for GB Energy and the government is the growing skills shortage in the power industry” Dr Hiscock added. “Part of the answer must be in re-skilling people who already work in fossil fuel industries. But it will also require a major push to create a supply chain of young people in the education system who are ready and willing to join the industry.”
Russell Olive, UK Director of vaylens, the EV charging brand of the KOSTAL Group, lamented the failure of the budget to raise fuel duty, although it did “increase the differential in Vehicle Excise Duty between fully electric and other vehicles and announced a £2 billion investment for the automotive sector.”
“The decision not to make it more expensive to run petrol and diesel cars holds us back from making real progress in the decarbonisation of UK transport” said Mr Olive. “This could have been a fiscal incentive to spark interest in switching to electric vehicles among leasers' and private buyers. Of course, increasing the differential between fully electric and other vehicles in the first rates of Vehicle Excise Duty is a step forward. But it is not enough to drive real change. The £2 billion investment in the automotive sector should be focused on how we deliver a seamless EV driving experience. This will require additional charging points and charging infrastructure to be underpinned with robust charging management systems that manage the performance of charging stations and streamline payments to successfully support a mass market transition.”
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