TAKE THE FIGHT TO SOCIAL MEDIA
The Government pledged to introduce grants for electric two-wheelers, in the same way they have for cars and vans. So far they haven't, and there is back-peddling going on... Below we've replicated editorial and a news article from our May issue, to give you the full story. Please share this blog - let's create a storm on social media and try to get the Government to explain themselves. Please share this blog!
BDN editorial, May 2016 issue:
What are the politicians playing at? At best it’s
procrastination. At worst they have decided they are not going to stick to
their word. There are reasons to fear the latter. It is now 13 months since the
government promised to include electric PTWs in the plug-in grants scheme that
had been benefiting the buyers of cars and vans.
The general election was imminent and the announcement made
headline news, underlining the green credentials of the Tory and Lib-Dem
administration. The grants, they said, would be instituted as soon as the dust
had settled.
We are still waiting and, more worryingly, it seems the
Minister and his Civil Service advisers are trying to pretend it never
happened. If you look on the website of the Office for Low Emission Vehicles
(OLEV) the original announcement has mysteriously disappeared. As our e-bike
correspondent Paul Blezard commented: “It has been expunged from the OLEV
memory banks like some communist big-shot deleted from a politburo photograph
in Stalinist times.”
One document remains, prominently stamped with what looks
suspiciously like a disclaimer: “This news article was published under the 2010
to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government.”
Far from helping the situation, the government has acted
like a hit and run driver. With an eye on an election it thought it could lose,
it sped in, knocked what few e-bike sales there were for six and appears to
have left the scene.
If the government truly believes in saving the environment,
grants to encourage electric motorcycles are a no-brainer. Plug-in grants for
e-bikes would cut emissions and boost the motorcycle industry. Unlike for cars,
more e-bikes would also cut congestion.
So why does the government continue to discriminate against
motorcycles? Are we to assume that the MCIA’s efforts to convince the
powers-that-be that PTWs are “part of the solution” are falling on deaf ears?
Regardless of your attitude towards e-PTWs, if you support
the motorcycle industry, if you believe in fair treatment for all modes of
transport, then contact your MP, circulate this article on social media and do
everything you can to demonstrate that we are not going to accept this
unprincipled U-turn.
BDN news article, May 2016
Was plug-in grants promise a pre-election con?
It is now more than 13 months since the government made a
U-turn on its discriminatory policy of doling out sizable plug-in grants to
buyers of electric cars while refusing to countenance similar support for PTWs.
PTWs, pledged the government in the run-up to the last
general election, would at last qualify for the grants and the policy would be
implemented as soon as a new administration was in place.
That promise was made on 27 March, 2015. It is now May 2016,
13 months later, and electric-PTW manufacturers, a potential bank of buyers,
and campaigners on the environment and congestion are still waiting for it to
be honoured.
Worse, and ominously, official reference to the PTW plug-in
grant approval has disappeared from government websites, with the exception of
one huge document stamped prominently with a red headline that boldly states:
“This news article was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and
Liberal Democrat government.”
BDN hopes it is wrong in interpreting that statement as a
disclaimer intended to distance this Conservative administration from its
previous decision and that it intends to try to renege on its promise.
The prevarication makes a mockery of the government’s much
vaunted green credentials and makes the bullish, self-congratulatory statements
issued at the time of the announcement by Business Minister Matthew Hancock and
Transport Baroness Kramer look nothing short of hypocritical (see box out).
Meantime, the entire e-bike market has been blighted.
That there is demand for electric bikes and scooters is
clear from the registrations the MCIA provided for March, which, highly
unusually, showed that 106 electric moped scooters were readied for the road.
Apparently a pizza delivery company has finally given up waiting for the
plug-in grants and has bought a fleet of e-scooters.
Regardless of the solid arguments based on green issues and
growing congestion – on grounds of basic fairness the motorcycle industry is
surely due some help before the government pulls the plug on its dalliance with
electric vehicles.
The sorry tale of political procrastination begins in June
2011 and the launch of the electric branch of the Motorcycle Industry
Association at the headquarters of the Greater London Authority, opposite Tower
Bridge. He wasn't scheduled to do so, but Mayor Boris Johnson had a quick spin
on two electric motorcycles.
From the day it was launched the eMCI was calling for
motorcycles to be included in the plug-in grant for electric cars which had
been in operation since January 2011, giving 25% off the purchase price, up to
a maximum of £5000. In 2012, the plug-in grant was extended to include electric
vans, but two-wheelers and quadricycles were still excluded. Finally, after
three more years of lobbying, on 27 March 2015 the Office for Low Emission
Vehicles (OLEV) put out a press release announcing that there would finally be
an electric grant for powered two wheelers.
There was talk that the grant would be available by the
summer, but summer came and went, and so did autumn, and still there was no
grant.
People trying to sell electric PTWs complained that the
grant announcement was actually working against them because potential clients
were naturally holding off from buying ePTWs until the grant came into
operation since it was due to offer 20% off the cost, up to a maximum of £1500.
Jamie Masterman of Rieju UK told BDN two weeks ago: “We
would have sold far more electric machines if the grant announcement had never
been made!”
On the OLEV website, there's a list of every press release
made since February 2015, except, mysteriously, the one about the electric PTW
grant. If you type “motorcycle” or “scooter” into the OLEV search box the
result is a big fat zero.
Craig Carey-Clinch, who was involved in the original
negotiations about the grant on behalf of the MCI, told BDN: “It's a
frustrating situation. Questions have been asked in Parliament and letters have
been written to ministers. We are now asking for a face-to-face meeting with
the minister to find out why there has still been no action.”
Steve Kenward, chief executive of the MCIA, confirmed that
he is seeking a meeting with Andrew Jones, the junior minister for Transport,
who now has the OLEV brief. Commenting on the non-appearance of the grant,
Kenward told BDN: “Frankly, this delay is unbelievable. The government seems
reluctant to embrace the twin benefits of congestion-easing powered two
wheelers and green vehicles at the point of use. Fully embracing electric
powered two wheelers, (which need no specific charging infrastructure), while
recognising the congestion benefits that would be delivered, seems only
sensible, and the delay beggars belief.”
What the politicians said when they annnounced plug-in
grants for ePTWs would go ahead. We are still waiting.
“This £7.5 million for electric bikes demonstrates our
commitment to all ultra-low emission vehicles … there is now a genuine
low-emission choice for everyone and electric vehicles are now ready to go
mainstream,” said Baroness Kramer in March 2015. “We are determined that the UK
continues to be at the forefront of this vital revolution in transport.”
Business Minister Matthew Hancock trumpeted: “Electric
motorcycles and scooters have got fantastic potential and can be a real force
for good. This investment shows we are serious about increasing the uptake of
cleaner vehicles in the UK …”
Interesting stuff... Please share this blog - let's get this noticed!
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