End of the road for Tesla EV grants

[Cocijo]

End of the road for Tesla grants after surge in electric car sales — The Times and The Sunday Times

Grants for electric cars will be cut by £500 and abolished altogether for more expensive models under plans designed to stretch taxpayer support further. The government will announce that the plug-in car grant will drop from £3,000 to £2,500 from today after a surge in demand for electric...

apple.news

 

[Marcad]

Not only Tesla, KIA Hyundai, VW they are all well over £35000 and I think to drop this onto the market without warning is bit naughty!

 

[BillyWhizz]

If you can afford a Tesla you don’t need a grant to buy it

 

[ARealHuman]

If you can afford a Tesla you don’t need a grant to buy it

I don't subscribe to comments like this. I've always scrimped and saved to get what I want, then to have the price increase a the last minute is a bit rich! What I'm saying is if I had saved up enough to buy a Tesla, that's what I would have saved, removing the grant would mean I'd be short of funds! Of course, his doesn't apply to the like of millionaires of which I'm avery long way from!

 

[jamesie]

These sorts of grants are almost always taken advantage of by the manufacturers and/or dealers. Wouldn't be surprised to see special manufacturer/dealer discounts to bring the overall price back to where it was with the government grant.

 

[BillyWhizz]

I don't subscribe to comments like this. I've always scrimped and saved to get what I want, then to have the price increase a the last minute is a bit rich! What I'm saying is if I had saved up enough to buy a Tesla, that's what I would have saved, removing the grant would mean I'd be short of funds! Of course, his doesn't apply to the like of millionaires of which I'm avery long way from!

Fair comment maybe the grant should be means tested to target the people who will benefit the most form it

 

[Ranger]

I think the removal of the grant will help bring prices down the same way prices dropped after the solar grant was removed.

 

[AbuG]

Yes prices are generally based on what the market is willing to pay. The bulk of the cost is just the profit margin unfortunately.

 

[Stuart Wright]

If you can afford a Tesla you don’t need a grant to buy it

Let's be a little bit more nuanced.
Many businesses need cars with longer range and easy, reliable charging. Only Teslas offer this with the Supercharger network.
Teslas and the small number of other long range EVs are all over £35k. Even the Kona and E-Niro.
Adding £3k on to their prices is going to affect the cost of having these EVs and may well deter EV uptake by businesses.
While everyone agrees that we need cheaper EVs and the government has to save money to pay for covid, the argument is not as black and white as you have stated.

I think the removal of the grant will help bring prices down the same way prices dropped after the solar grant was removed.

I certainly hope so. Tesla reduced the price of its cars in Japan to compete.

Tesla Demand Picks Up in Japan Following Aggressive Price Cut

Tesla Inc.’s Model 3 sales appear to be taking off in Japan since it cut prices on the mid-range electric sedan last month.

www.bloomberg.com

I test drove a Model 3 long range on Sunday with a view to having one on a business contract hire.
It wasn't sufficiently better than my Ioniq to justify the cost right now. Especially since we can't go anywhere until after lockdown and then all the hotels will be fully booked for the rest of the year, I reckon.

 

[Cocijo]

I think that there are many different viewpoints on this - as always.
I’s only recently that the additional road fund licence for electric cars costing over 40k was waived that would have cost owners an additional amount of around £1500 over 5 years.
I think they’ve missed a trick not giving more notice on the reduction of the grant for new purchasers and in doing so providing the opportunity to get the existing grant before the window closes.
The cynical among us will say that manufacturers only increased their cars prices to take into account the government grants anyway. Just like home charger suppliers do. Just like house prices increased when stamp duty was removed.
I think that we are all prepared for when EV’s start to pay road fund licence which is only a matter of time.
The MG EV being very competitively priced is still well placed in the market. Other manufacturers could follow suit but do not want to cannibalise their existing ICE offerings just yet.
As with ICE cars there will always be different price points and many will still pay for ownership of the more prestigious brands.

 

[jamesie]

Will a business lease for a vehicle at £40k and one at £43k be that much different? Enough to make the business move "back" to an ICE vehicle? If that's the case then I doubt they would consider an EV at all given you can buy an ICE vehicle with a similar specification for two thirds (or less?) anyway.

I'm not a big fan of these sorts of grants when there are homeless, food banks, kids going hungry etc. Surely the money can be better spent?

 

[Cocijo]

Let's be a little bit more nuanced.
Many businesses need cars with longer range and easy, reliable charging. Only Teslas offer this with the Supercharger network.
Teslas and the small number of other long range EVs are all over £35k. Even the Kona and E-Niro.
Adding £3k on to their prices is going to affect the cost of having these EVs and may well deter EV uptake by businesses.
While everyone agrees that we need cheaper EVs and the government has to save money to pay for covid, the argument is not as black and white as you have stated.


I certainly hope so. Tesla reduced the price of its cars in Japan to compete.

Tesla Demand Picks Up in Japan Following Aggressive Price Cut

Tesla Inc.’s Model 3 sales appear to be taking off in Japan since it cut prices on the mid-range electric sedan last month.

www.bloomberg.com

I test drove a Model 3 long range on Sunday with a view to having one on a business contract hire.
It wasn't sufficiently better than my Ioniq to justify the cost right now. Especially since we can't go anywhere until after lockdown and then all the hotels will be fully booked for the rest of the year, I reckon.

I’ve done 20k miles in my model 3 performance. It sounds crazy but in many ways I prefer the ZS. They are 2 very different cars. I will look at the model y when it eventually arrives.

 

[Jaygee]

These are all valid points here.
It is human nature to want a better deal. Having a grant and money knocked off is subconsciously and consciously more attractive. It might deter the better off buyer from making the transition from ice. Right now the biggest limitation of ev’s is the charging network mainly because of range. It is precisely for this reason if I were to be doing long journeys, I would never do it an ev. Tesla’s to some extent mitigate that but no longer. There is nothing under the grant level which would attract a long distance miler anymore. They are the ones who eilll contribute more to emissions. (Eg a diesel car driving travelling salesman will cause more pollution and use the roads more than a enthusiasts who uses is 5litre v8 over the weekend)
The first thought that came to my mind as soon as I learnt about the grant dropping is - that’s me out then. If I had that kind of money to spend I would spend it on an m3 or c63.
Yes it will attempt to get many more into cheaper and shorter range evs but can you then imagine the charging networks being congested.
Thats just my opinion. I am certain there will be many out there who think the same.
The ball is in the court of the manufacturers now.

 

[Jaygee]

Also can someone please inform Greta.