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London has set out a sweeping new five-year plan to push fleets and drivers into even lower emission vehicles.
In a document titled An Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle Delivery Plan for London, the London Mayor's office and Transport for London has listed areas it will target in future which include a tightening of the CO2 figure needed to gain 100% discount on the congestion charge, grants for plug-in taxis, expansion of the number of charging points - particularly for on-street parking, encouragement for low emission commercial vehicles and a 50% target for car clubs fleets to be made up of ULEVs.
Possibly the largest red flag for fleets is a signal that the 75g/km CO2 limit for 100% discount on the congestion charge will be lowered as the plans stated London would "review the ULED requirements as emission standards improve so only the cleanest vehicles are incentivised".
The document is short on specifics for a new upper CO2 limit, but repeatedly mentions the influence the current limit has on buying decisions.
The only future CO2 limit raised by the report is the "zero emissions capable" figure that new taxis and private hire vehicles registered from 1 January 2018 will have to meet. This is currently under consultation, but TfL has suggested a cap of 50g/km for CO2 plus a pure electric range of at least 30 miles. However, this figure does not marry-up with any of the upcoming three-tier plug-in grant levels.
The report also added it would put pressure on the Government to introduce per-mile charging: "TfL will also work with government to look at new ways to incentivise ULEVs, for example, through road user charging and ensuring that fiscal incentives only encourage and promote the cleanest vehicles."
As well as setting out new ways of incentivising cleaner vehicles it also suggests scrapping some existing ones: "Free parking for ULEVs has also been a successful incentive to date. However, as the ULEV market grows and becomes a more mainstream option, this will not be sustainable in the long-term and incentives will have to be reviewed."
Commercial vehicle fleets were also targeted for promotion in the plan, however there were few specifics with the report stating: "Sales of plug-in vans in 2014 represented 0.2 per cent of the market share in 2014, illustrating that there is considerable work and policy support needed for commercial vehicles. Supporting uptake of ULEVs in commercial fleets is a principal focus for us."
Alongside the broad measures for the wider market, the Mayor's office said it would improve TfL's fleet with 120 ULEVs plus switching around 1000 cars to ULEVs across various Greater London Area fleets. Alongside this the London Fire Brigade said it would spend £600,000 switching its fleet of 57 cars to ULEVs by the end of this year.
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