A new report has been published proposing solutions to issues raised by the Government’s Net Zero Strategy regarding the adoption of electric vehicles (EV) in the UK.

The report, published by the Coalition for the Decarbonisation of Road Transport (CDRT) at the Green Finance Institute, puts forward eighteen solutions to the financial barriers slowing the decarbonisation of road transport in the UK. The two key areas covered in the report are consumer adoption of electric vehicles, and expansion of necessary charging infrastructure.

The UK has committed to phasing out the sale of petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, and without solutions to smooth the transition to electric vehicles the process may not be practically possible.

The CDRT’s solutions were contributed to by over 200 experts, and are designed to encourage collaboration between finance, industry and governmental partners. The first of these solutions is expected to launch in 2022.

“Our report has identified a number of barriers to EV adoption by consumers, and the roll out of public charging infrastructure which, if not overcome, risk disrupting the orderly transition needed to move the UK towards zero emission motoring,” said Lauren Pamma, Programme Director for the CDRT.

“Decarbonising road transport is a challenge that’s too large and interconnected for any one part of the market to solve alone. We need radical collaboration through public and private partnerships across finance and industry,” said Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas OBE, Chief Executive of the Green Finance Institute.

Members of the CDRT coalition have proposed solutions including the use of a standardised battery health certification for used electric vehicle sales, finance options that allow customers to consolidate charging costs into the cost of the vehicle itself, and creation of toolkits to increase the ease for local authorities to add charging infrastructure to their existing network.

“We support the work of the CDRT, and the innovative solutions put forward could help to accelerate consumer adoption of electric vehicles and the rollout of essential infrastructure. These solutions help to reduce the risk to the private sector, which will encourage more action. The BVRLA is looking forward to further collaboration with public and private partners to make the exciting solutions presented in this report a success,” said British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association (BVRLA) Chief Executive, Gerry Keaney.