Electric Cars: The Battle Against Misinformation in the UK Press

The electric vehicle (EV) market in the United Kingdom has experienced significant growth since the turn of the century, with one million units sold between 2002 and the present day. However, despite this impressive milestone, the sales of electric cars have plateaued, leading to calls for action from the House of Lords Climate Change Committee. The committee’s report, published in late 2021, highlighted the issue of misinformation in the press regarding electric vehicles and urged the government to take steps to counteract it.

The UK government has committed £2bn to the EV sector, but growth in the market has stalled. Nearly a quarter of the country’s carbon emissions, responsible for climate change, come from road transport. Switching to electric vehicles could help reduce these emissions significantly, but only about 3% of cars on the road are currently powered by electricity.

Baroness Parminter, chair of the Lords Climate Change Committee, expressed concern over the misinformation being published in parts of the UK press. She reported reading articles that spread fear and misconceptions about electric vehicles. The committee did not single out any particular newspaper, but both government officials and witnesses testified to encountering such articles.

Richard Bruce, Director of Transport Decarbonisation at the Department for Transport, acknowledged the problem. He stated that there had been a concerted campaign of misinformation about electric vehicles in the press over the past 14 months. He noted that there was an anti-EV story in the papers almost every day, and most of these stories were based on misconceptions and mistruths.

Baroness Parminter urged the government to provide reliable information to consumers to counteract the misinformation. She pointed out that the Prime Minister’s speech in 2020, where he mentioned the transition to net-zero emissions, may have given the public the impression that this was a lower priority. However, net-zero is fast approaching, and the sooner the UK achieves it, the cheaper it will be.

To address the issue of misinformation, the government has made available a list of common questions and answers on the transition to electric vehicles. The list covers topics such as battery range and chargepoint availability across the country. The committee also called on the government to unlock funding more quickly for local authorities to install charging infrastructure. The Lords heard that local authorities had to wait eight months to have their applications processed for the On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme (ORCS).

The number of public chargers also varies significantly across the country. In the North West, there are just 31 public chargers per 100,000 population compared to 131 in London. Cllr Darren Rodwell, transport spokesperson for the Local Government Association, emphasized the need for long-term funding certainty to support the transition to net-zero emissions from local transport.

The Department for Transport spokesperson stated that the first councils were starting to receive part of the £381m local electric vehicle infrastructure fund alongside new grants to install charge points in state schools and nurseries. However, the government faces challenges with falling tax revenues as the number of EVs grows. Currently, EV owners are not required to pay excise duty, congestion charge, and fuel duty.

Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder of ZapMap, a UK EV mapping service, suggested an alternative solution: increasing taxes on heavy polluting petrol and diesel cars. She argued that it was the heavy vehicles that cause the most damage and that bringing in new taxes for EVs was too early as consumer confidence was still growing. Paris residents recently voted to introduce higher parking charges for large SUV petrol and diesel vehicles as part of efforts to recuperate public costs from more polluting modes of transport.

In conclusion, the issue of misinformation in the UK press regarding electric vehicles is a significant barrier to the growth of the EV market. The government must take steps to counteract this misinformation and provide reliable information to consumers to build confidence in electric vehicles. Additionally, the government needs to address the challenges of funding charging infrastructure and redesigning the tax system to account for the increasing number of EVs on the road. By taking these actions, the UK can make a successful transition to electric vehicles and significantly reduce its carbon emissions.