Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, has ruled out a pay-per-mile scheme for the UK. Looks like the anti-ev press have jumped on a rumour and run with it. Mind you its taken the government long enough to either confirm or deny it.
I'd urge caution. The statement she made was "There are no proposals to introduce a national pay-per-mile scheme. This Government are firmly on the side of drivers. As I have set out, we are pumping £24 billion of capital into motorways and local roads, with a record £1.6 billion for local roads maintenance this year, which is £500 million more than last year, and we are further repairing rundown bridges, decaying flyovers and worn-out tunnels."
Her statement is true. There are no [published] proposals on a national PPM scheme. It doesn't mean there won't be, either in this budget or the next... nor that they are not (re-)examining the possibility. It just needs to be equitable and apply to all vehicles.
The original report in
The Telegraph (5 Nov) also claimed "government officials have denied these plans", stating "a Transport Secretary has explicitly stated that a national pay-per-mile scheme is not being proposed". So what Ms Alexander said in reply to questions on Thursday hasn't changed anything in the original Telegraph report. So there's been no change since the original article was published.
It has the hallmarks of two things: right-wing press/oil lobby anti-EV troublemaking and/or an intended government leak designed to gauge the feelings about PPM. I suspect both.
On the right-wing press anti-EV troublemaking front,
The Telegraph has again this morning negatively slanted an article about infotainment screen advertising/notifications in EVs, as if infotainment systems in ICEs are not capable of the same/similar things! For example, whereas an EV's infotainment system monitors HV battery level it is easy to monitor ICE fuel level sensor output and travel time (and is done), so advertisers will want a bit of that action too I would think, especially as the ICE market will be in the majority well into the late 2030s.
The
anti-EV reporting in the UK right-wing press is well noted and has all the hallmarks of cherry-picking/misinformation campaigns practiced by lobbyists and apologists for the asbestos industry, tobacco industry, and oil industry over the last 80 years or so.
