UK e-bike subsidy could be on the cards
UK e-bike subsidy could be on the cards
Posted on 23 Oct 2017
The UK government could potentially consider providing subsidies for electric bicycles and electric cars as part of a concerted policy effort to get more people cycling, the roads minister, Jesse Norman, has said.
With the UK facing health crises from pollution and inactive living, other plans could include using electric cargo bikes to deliver packages from internet retailers rather than vans, Norman told the Guardian.
Currently people buying electric or hybrid cars can receive up to £4,500 off the purchase price through a government subsidy scheme. However, there is no equivalent policy for e-bikes despite them becoming increasingly popular with novice or older cyclists and costing upwards of £1,000.
Elsewhere in Europe, residents are already being incentivised to get an e-bike, with a €200 electric bike subsidy in France, a $1200 subsidy in Oslo for electric cargo bike purchases, and most recently Sweden have announced that around €35 million per year will be set aside for the next three years to subsidize purchases.
Norman said an e-bike subsidy could happen: "We've done some work on that already, and I haven't looked at the outcomes yet, and they might not be ready yet. There's a case in principle."
He said there was "tremendous opportunity" for more packages to be delivered by electric-assist cargo bikes: "If you think about what in terms of local deliveries, a lot of these Amazon deliveries are lighter things - you don't need a Transit van to be doing that.
"I think e-bikes and ebikes-plus are a really interesting potential way of handling that last mile or two of deliveries."
About 1-2% of trips in the UK are made by bike, considerably fewer than in many other other European countries.
Saying his ambition was to "make the transition to a world where a 12-year-old can cycle safely", Norman said he could not promise extra funding for cycle routes, but said central government could start pushing councils to take more action.