A third of UK motorists don’t know what green number plates represent
A third of motorists don’t know what green numberplates mean as government’s plan to boost electric car sales falters amidst grant cuts
- Owners of electric cars have been able to display green plates since December
- Transport Minister Grant Shapps hopes they will boost demand for EVs in the UK
- A raft of benefits, such as use of bus lanes, have also been touted but are no closer to being confirmed six months on from the their introduction
- Some 31% of drivers polled said they didn’t know what the plates represent
- Since launching, the Government has cut grants available for electric vehicles
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Almost a third of drivers don’t know what green number plates represent, more than six months after their introduction, according to a new AA survey of 14,719 drivers.
The plates, launched by Transport Minister Grant Shapps in December are designed to incentivise motorists to switch to pure-electric cars – but 31 per cent of the panel quizzed by the AA said they don’t know what they are.
Despite being available for six months, there is still no confirmation of a single benefit drivers displaying them will get.
Free parking in towns and cities, access to bus lanes and other perks had been previously touted, but no concrete plans have yet been outlined.
Have green plates hit a bum note? Almost a third of motorists don’t know what a number plate with a green flash represents – some six months on from the EV incentive being launched
In the months since they were made available, minister have reduced the biggest incentive for electric vehicle ownership – the Plug-in Vehicle Grant (PiVG) – which appeared to hit demand for battery cars the month the subsidy was reduced.
Three in five of the licence-holding panel did correctly state that the green slash on the number plate indicated that this was a zero-emission vehicle.
The new number plates were introduced in December 2020, with Mr Shapps posing next to his Tesla Model 3 with one of the green-flashed boards proudly displayed.
‘Green number plates will help increase awareness of cleaner vehicles on our roads, demonstrating that a more environmentally friendly transport future is within our grasp,’ he said on 8 December.
However, with a third of motorists still not knowing what they are, it brings into question the effectiveness of the plates.
Younger drivers were more likely to correctly identify this (74 per cent of 18-to-24-year-olds) compared to the over 65s (58 per cent).
Drivers in Wales (59 per cent) and Northern Ireland (54 per cent) were least likely to give the correct answer, whilst those in London, perhaps due to the high density of EVs, were most likely to get it right (66 per cent).
Of those who incorrectly identified the meaning of the plates, the most popular wrong answers included drivers thinking the plates denote being allowed to park in green zones, the car belongs to an Irish National, the user is a member of the Green Party and some even believed it was to display the driver’s vote for Brexit.
Plenty of existing owners of EVs have jumped on the scheme, with many early adopters retrofitting the plates to their older plug-in cars. However, they have yet to make a significant impact on driving uptake of battery models.
The RAC previously said the plates could become a ‘badge of honour’ for some drivers and foster resentment among existing drivers of petrol and diesel vehicles.
Green number plates have been available for new and used electric vehicles from 8 December. Plates are similar to standard white and yellow versions but have vertical green stripe on left side that can be identified by cameras. Pictured: Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps (left) with an example of how the plate will look
Only 69% of 15,000 UK licence holders said they knew what the number plates mean
Electric car grants cut within four months of green plate introduction
The survey about the success of the green number plate scheme comes just three months after ministers decided to cut the PiVG – the Government’s grant towards the purchase of a new battery-electric car.
A £3,500 allowance was previously given to those purchasing a new EV with a value of less than £50,000.
However, in April (less than four months after the green plate scheme was launched), the grant was cut to £3,000 and availability trimmed to only models costing less than £35,000.
Fewer than 30 cars on the market today are now eligible for the scheme, with some models – like the Ford Mustang Mach-e – priced out of the grant and some manufacturers forced to slash prices in order to make their cars more appealing to customers who want access to the scheme.
The move also appeared to hit sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the month the grant was slashed.
In March, BEVs represented 7.7 per cent of all cars registered in the UK. A month later market share fell to 6.5 per cent, with more drivers opting for a plug-in hybrid vehicle instead in April.
In May, with more manufacturers making their electric ranges fit the revised scheme, market share rose to 8.4 per cent. In comparison, petrol cars represented almost 50 per cent of all registrations that month.
This is Money asked the Department for Transport about the future of the PiVG and what other incentives might be introduced to promote the sale of electric vehicles.
A spokesman told us: ‘We’ve got a highly ambitious and world-leading approach to increasing the uptake of zero emission cars, and the progress we’re making in this area will help us to meet our targets.
‘Already, we’re investing £2.8billion in helping industry and drivers make the switch – and will continue our work to install thousands of chargepoints and boost the development of new technologies to meet our goals.’
However, he went on to suggest the grant could be removed entirely in the not-too-distant future, as outlined in the Government’s Road to Zero strategy report published in 2018.
The DfT said that as electric vehicles move into the mainstream market with mass production, it expects economies of scale to ‘drive price reductions’, thus negating the need for tax-payer-funded incentives to make them more affordable.
It highlighted car manufacturers’ ability to reduce prices to meet the stricter PiVG criteria earlier this year as evidence that EVs can be made more affordable.
Edmund King, AA president, who – along with Shapps – was one of the first to get a green number plate last December, said he wasn’t surprised by the number of people who don’t know what the plates mean, based on the number of people who have asked him about the one displayed on his electric Porsche.
However, he added: ‘I think these plates will become a more common site as it is projected that electric vehicles will make up a quarter of new car sales in 2025.
‘These plates indicate there is now a growing range of cars that are going electric and send out a message that this is becoming the new normal.’
Fewer than 30 electric cars are currently eligible for the recently-reduced PiVG. Skoda’s Enyaq (pictured) iV is one of them – but only if you choose one of the bottom two trim levels rather than a flashier version
Ministers have suggested that electric cars with the number plates could benefit from cheaper parking, unrestricted access to low emission zones and permission to use bus lanes in the future – but six months from being introduced there are still no concrete plans in place for this
While King expects to see the plates becoming mainstream, it’s still unclear what – if any – benefits will be given to those who display them.
As well as use of bus lanes and access to restricted roads, ministers are said to be looking at whether parking spaces could be painted green to give priority to zero-emission vehicles.
Hybrids and plug-in hybrid cars are ineligible to display the plates, despite them being partly battery powered.
Halfords is charging £38 for a pair of the number plates that can be fitted to a zero-emission vehicle on the same day. Alternatively, you can have a front plate or back plate only for £19.
Owners have to need to show their logbook in stores to prove ownership and the eligibility of their vehicle as part of measures to prevent misuse – though there are concerns that online suppliers won’t request the same stringent checks.
‘To encourage a faster uptake, incentives must remain in place to reduce the purchase price of EVs and home chargers,’ King said.
‘Radical moves like cutting VAT on certain EV models would also speed the uptake.’
