Electric vehicle makers call for a purge on restrictive red tape

‘We are committed to the UK but, if you don’t legalise the tech, any company would look at the options’

THE UK must slash red tape on building gigafactories and cut electricity prices by unpegging them from gas if it wants to attract the investment needed to rescue sinking production, the car industry has warned.

UK manufacturers pay higher electricity bills than EU competitors in spite of the comparatively high and rising proportion of wind energy available, partly because electricity is priced using the once-cheap methane cost, which has shot up in price.

Fixing this and making battery plant building easier could give the industry the boost it needs, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (Smmt)said.

The proportion of electric vehicles being made is rising but local battery supply is crucial, the trade body said.

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: “Britain boasts a firm foundation of EV production, backed by low-carbon energy, outstanding R&D and a highly skilled and productive workforce. We must not squander these advantages.”

UK car production halved in the past five years and more falls would threaten the industry as suppliers lose work and leave, said Ashwani Gupta, Nissan’s chief operating officer, last month.

Mr Gupta added: “The UK is becoming more and more challenging as a manufacturing footprint.”

One of Britain’s most promising driverless car companies has also warned it could start testing its systems abroad as ministers drag their feet over new laws allowing advanced trials.

Wayve, backed by Microsoft and Sir Richard Branson, said the lack of rules for driverless car companies to test vehicles without human safety drivers or to run commercial services meant it could expand abroad and not in Britain.

Sarah Gates, Wayve’s director of public policy, said: “We’re fully committed to the UK currently. But if you don’t legalise the deployment of the technology, any company would then have to look at our options.”