The Government isn't meeting its own EV targets, despite pushing motorists towards electric cars by increasing taxes and running costs of hybrid, petrol and diesel.
It pledged to electrify 25 per cent of the central government car fleet by 2022.
In April the Government further pledged all central government cars and vans (except for the Prime Minister's gas-guzzling Range Rovers) will be zero emissions by the end of 2027.
But new research from WhatCar? reveals the Government is falling short of its targets to electrify its fleets, with only 15 per cent of its cars and vans being pure electric.
WhatCar? obtained information about 7,116 cars and vans operated by 21 central government departments via Freedom of Information requests, with the data received showing 22 per cent of cars are currently pure electric EVs and just 4 per cent of vans are, pulling down the overall total.
The figures suggest many government fleets have so far switched to lower-emission vehicles, such as plug-in hybrids and hybrids, with 22 per cent plug-in hybrids and one per cent hybrids across the fleet.
That leaves 3 per cent of vehicles powered by petrol and 59 per cent fuelled by diesel.
Motorists are being actively pushed into fully-electric cars rather than hybrids after the Treasury massively hiked the cost of owning and running a hybrid car two months ago in order to hit targets to phase out the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030.
The Government has given its fleets the opportunity to apply for exemption – which had to be filed by 31 May - for certain vehicles from going electric due to security and other reasons. These will be confirmed by 31 July.
However, the WhatCar? figures already take into account vehicles that are likely to gain exemption from the EV commitment because it only includes cars and vans weighing up to 3,500kg.
Across the central government fleet results, 35 per cent of cars are PHEVs, but there are zero plug-in hybrid vans. In fact, 96 per cent of vans are diesel.
And the detailed results clearly show that some central government fleets are doing better than others at going green, with the DVLA responding 88 per cent of its cars and 67 per cent of its vans are electric.
The DVSA on the other hand has only 11 per cent electric cars, and no pure electric vans.
All of National Highways' 10 vans are electric, and while only 15 per cent of its cars are EVs, 84 per cent are PHEVs and just two per cent are diesels which marks it out as a better performing fleet.
Comparatively the Ministry of Justice has 16 per cent EVs, but the majority are hybrid or PHEV: 44 per cent and 52 per cent respectively. 1,189 of its vans are diesel, as are 19 per cent of its cars.
Border Force, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Home Office didn't respond or provide enough information to be included, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities and the Wales office have no vehicles.
The failure to hit its own EV targets comes after the Chancellor's Spring Budget hikes in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) road tax for plug-in hybrids and hybrids of up to 1,000 per cent.
On 1 April the first-year VED rate for cars emitting 1-50g/km of CO2 rose from £10 to £110, while cars emitting 51-75g/km of CO2 went from paying £30 to £130. Many plug-in hybrids and self-charging hybrids fall into these brackets.
But others, like the Toyota Yaris hybrid fall into even higher CO2 categories; the 76-90g/km and 91-100 g/km categories.
The lowest first-year VED rate for petrols and diesel with emissions of 76-90g/km shot up from £135 to £270.
But the Yaris hybrid puts out 91g/km CO2 at least and so owners are having to pay £330 now in road tax compared to £165 before 1 April.
Experts have labelled it a 'shove, not a nudge' towards EV uptake.
| CO2 (g/km) | Petrol & diesel cars now | Petrol & diesel cars from 1 April 2025 | Alternative fuel (self-charging and plug-in hybrid) cars now | Alternative fuel (self-charging and plug-in hybrid) cars from 1 April 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | £0 | £10 | £0 | £10 |
| 0 50 | 10 | £110 | £0 | £110 |
| 51 75 | £30 | £130 | £20 | £130 |
| 76 90 | £135 | £270 | £125 | £250 |
| 91 100 | £175 | £350 | £165 | £330 |
| 101 110 | £195 | £390 | £185 | £370 |
| 111 130 | £220 | £440 | £210 | £420 |
| 131 150 | £270 | £540 | £260 | £520 |
| 151 170 | £680 | £1,360 | £670 | £1,340 |
| 171 190 | £1,095 | £2,190 | £1,085 | £2,170 |
| 191 255 | £1,650 | £3,300 | £1,640 | £3,280 |
| 226 255 | £2,340 | £4,680 | £2,330 | £4,660 |
| Over 255 | £2,745 | £5,490 | £2,735 | £5,490 |
It's not just VED rates that are forcing people to go electric; company car tax changes – the rates for PHEVs will go up at a rate of 1 per cent increase for each year for the next three financial years – and other fees such as the increase congestion charge for PHEVs to £15 in 2021 have made hybrids far less appealing proposition for drivers.
WhatCar? says it believes it is 'completely wrong' the Government is 'not cleaning up its own fleet at the same time it is penalising ordinary drivers for not going electric by slapping higher taxes on low-emission alternative vehicles'.
Industry figures have also been unimpressed with the Government's lack of incentives, as grants for early adopters have long ended, and EV owners are now liable for VED levies as well as the expensive car supplement on EVs costing more than £40,000.
Buyers of new EVs over this threshold are having to cough up an extra £425 on top of VED hikes for going electric.
This has been so unpopular that a leaked letter from the Minister for the Future of Roads, Lilian Greenwood, suggested the Government could increase the threshold from £40,000 to £50,000 to offer a respite and help drive uptake.
While this was described as 'move in the right direction' it is not enough to improve consumer confidence, with WhatCar? backing calls for better financial incentives, such as halving the VAT on new EVs, and reduced VAT on public EV charging costs, to make it easier and more appealing for motorists to switch to EVs.
This is Money has contacted the Department for Transport for comment.
