After waiting for years, we have seen over recent days a flurry of government publications on decarbonisation: the overall plan, a green paper outlining the regulatory framework, the much-anticipated HGV consultation, and now this week, we have the Delivery Plan for ending the sale of non-zero emission light vehicles by 2035.
The plan envisages regular updates and a full progress review by 2025 against seven key performance indicators: average reported CO2 emissions; market share of zero emission cars and LCVs; total number of ultra-low and zero emission vehicles on UK roads; the number of public and rapid charge points; number of homes, workplaces and local authorities supported through the charging infrastructure grant schemes; and finally, production of ZEVs in the UK as a percentage of all cars and vans built.
The latter is likely to be of great interest as the quantity of new production facilities in the UK is set to increase over the next 18 months. Meanwhile, we wait for Part 2 of the bus consultation, and still there is nothing on coaches. Nonetheless, I would assume that by the end of this year we will have a clear understanding of the road ahead to transport decarbonisation, and what the future is likely to hold for all of us.
