The Member of the Welsh Parliament for Aberconwy and Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Janet Finch-Saunders MS, has questioned the ambition of the Welsh Government’s electric vehicle charging plan and she calls for support to be ‘supercharged’ to assist with the consumer transition.
It comes as the Member attended the launch of the Kia EV6 Electric Experience at Llandudno Kia. According to the promotional materials available, the Kia EV6 has up to 328-mile range and can take as little as 18 minutes to charge from 10 to 80%. Llandudno Kia is a family business situated opposite the Llandudno Retail Parc on Argyll Road.
Commenting after the event, Janet said:
“It was fantastic to attend the launch of the Kia EV6 Electric Experience at Llandudno Kia, which underlined the sustainable and technological leaps that these vehicles have taken. This fantastic family business is just one example of the businesses that are adapting to meet the large-scale consumer transition that is required to combat the climate and nature emergencies.
“However, we know that action needs to be taken if we are to encourage such a transition for car users across Wales. We currently stand as 10th out of the 12 nations and regions of the UK when considering total charging points available, which is a most worrying statistic that goes some way to explain the finding of the ONS whose recent survey concluded that 43% of Welsh car buyers are putting off buying electric for five years or more.
“Given that the Welsh Government’s Net Zero Carbon Budget laid out the ambition that, by 2025, 48% of new car sales should be zero emission, it is clear that this charging policy has taken a very worrying direction of travel and risks success targets being missed. With the 4,000 rapid charging point target seemingly dropped from the final document released, it leaves yet more questions unanswered.
“Since declaring a climate change emergency over two and a half years ago, the Senedd’s Climate Change committee has found that the statement has not ‘triggered a wave of action’ as Ministers had hoped. If we are to support the shift towards sustainable transport, we need to supercharge our ambition to encourage the consumer transition.”
ENDS
Photo: CHUTTERSNAP/UnSplash
