Ministers ‘misleading’ motorists over cash help when buying electric vehicles
Ministers have been accused of “misleading” drivers about the financial support available for buying a new electric vehicle (EV).
Liberal Democrats claimed the Scottish Government was continuing to advertise and promote its Electric Vehicle Loan scheme, which supported the purchase of new EVs, even though this closed on March 4 2022.
That is despite Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth telling Scottish Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur in January of this year that “no specific loan funding is set aside for new vehicles” in the answer to a written question at Holyrood.
He added: “This government won’t meet its climate targets by cutting support for schemes which encourage people to make the switch to low-carbon transport.
“There simply are not enough used EVs on the market for everyone to transition to low-carbon transport this way so support for new purchases is clearly necessary.
“The UK Government has recently ended its subsidies for EVs and now the SNP-Green coalition looks like they’re following the same road as the Conservatives.
“This comes at a time when the Climate Change Committee has condemned the Scottish Government for lacking a clear plan to reduce emissions.”
Lib Dems want all new public sector vehicles to be either low or zero emissions, and also insist the government should develop a “reliable charging network” for EVs across the country.
The party also wants there to be longer term, government backed interest free loans for those buying EVs, as well as a government run scheme to allow people to try out such vehicles over a weekend.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said the webpage the Lib Dems referred to “is not our primary means of communicating this information to the public”.
The spokespweron said: “The information relating to EV support, on a sub-section of a page relating to renewable and low carbon energy, is out of date and will be updated.
“Our range of support is promoted by and delivered through Energy Saving Trust on behalf of the Scottish Government – where over £185 million has been provided through our Low Carbon Transport Loan to support the transition to electric vehicles.”