The Chief Scientific Adviser for the Department for Transport (DfT) has said that the government is unlikely to meet the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) target for 9% electric vehicles (EVs) by 2020. Professor Phil Blythe made the statement during an Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) hearing on Tuesday 2 April. He said that the current figure was 2-3%. Part of the problem, Blythe said, was that the waiting time for EVs is nine months. EAC Chair Mary Creagh said that people were deterred from adopting EVs because of range anxiety and a lack of charging infrastructure. She challenged Kit Malthouse MP, Minister of State for Housing, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the failure to “future proof” housing developments. Malthouse replied that the department set a minimum standard and a framework within which local plans were devised, which would then reflect local priorities.
