The UK’s transition to all-new EV sales by 2030 may fail without financial solutions that can facilitate an inclusive transition.

The report addresses current barriers to decarbonising road transport in the UK and has proposed 18 solutions

A new cross-sectoral report from the Green Finance Institute says that solutions are required to reduce the perceived risks faced by financial providers offering consumer finance to switch to EVs and facilitate the roll-out of charging infrastructure needed.

The institute’s Coalition for the Decarbonisation of Road Transport (CDRT) says both of these currently pose barriers to decarbonising road transport in the UK and has proposed 18 solutions – which could unlock a £150bn funding opportunity for private investment into EV market.

The report, revealed to coincide with Transport Day at COP26, features input by more than 200 experts from across the sector. The solutions are designed to encourage public and private partnerships across transport finance, industry, and local and central government. The first of these is already in development and will be launched in 2022.

Solutions put forward in the CDRT’s report to support consumer purchase and leasing of EVs include a standardised battery health certification to give confidence to buyers in the used car market and the development of bundled vehicle and infrastructure financing products that mean drivers only need to pay one monthly payment for EV costs; including the EV itself, charge points and energy.

The report also suggests solutions to boost a UK-wide EV charging infrastructure, as the authors says financial products are needed to derisk investment in areas where the business case for installation is currently “commercially uncompelling” in the short-term. It calls for provision of utilisation-linked loans for installing more widely distributed charge points and new local authority toolkits that speed up and simplify the process of creating an extensive and reliable charging infrastructure.

The report follows the recent publication of the Government’s Net Zero Strategy and this summer’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan, and has been developed with input from coalition members including Lloyds Banking Group, Octopus Electric Vehicles, Arval, NatWest Group, Gridserve and the Global Infrastructure Investor Alliance.

Lauren Pamma, programme director for the CDRT, said: “Our inaugural 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. Our solutions have been co-designed with members to unlock those barriers and accelerate the pace of change.”

The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) has lent its support to the work. Chief executive Gerry Keaney said: “We are at a pivotal moment in the climate emergency and have a collective responsibility to defeat the challenges we’re facing. The Government has outlined its decarbonisation plans and the private sector must match those ambitions.

“Most early EV adoption is coming from the fleet sector, where tax incentives are driving huge demand for company and salary sacrifice cars. Elsewhere, patchy infrastructure and a less convincing consumer offering are holding EV uptake back.

“We support the work of the CDRT, and the innovative solutions put forward could help to accelerate consumer adoption of electric vehicles and the roll-out 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.”

Connected Kerb also said it applauded the report, “which provides practical solutions on how to unlock the huge investment required to make the contribution of EV to net zero a significant one”.

To access the CDRT’s report, click here.