Chamber and committees

Hydrogen is considered to be more appropriate for heavy goods vehicles. We recently published one of the outcomes from the zero-emission truck task force, and we are the first in the UK to plot where EV charging points and hydrogen stations need to be for HGV fleets. It is a mixture of both. We asked where that infrastructure should be, logistically, if we had it. That required information to be shared, which is quite a challenge given the competitive HGV market. However, we worked well with the sector. There is speculation about the use of hydrogen elsewhere, but that is less the case with cars and vans, and the instrument is about cars and vans.

Before I became responsible for this area, my understanding was that the schemes were always meant to be technology neutral, and instrument ensures that they are. As you point out, the original order would have precluded hydrogen, but the order that is before the committee includes it.

I think that we have some way to go before we see the development of hydrogen in cars and vans, which are the subject of the scheme.

Clearly, that is a UK responsibility. We do not manufacture cars in Scotland any more. Indeed, the former British Leyland site is in my constituency—it was a manufacturing outlet and is now a massive housing scheme. This is about sales by manufacturers. It is primarily targeted at England, and enforcement, penalties and so on will be the responsibility of the UK Government.

I think that there is. However, as I pointed out, EV regulation is the responsibility of the UK Government.

No—you have a very full agenda, convener.

I might bring in Matthew Eastwood on that. On where things are heading, there has definitely been an increase in uptake, and the scheme has assisted with that.

Anecdotally, there are differing views as to where the market is. I think that the used electric market is in a much stronger position, with the pricing for used EV and fossil fuel-powered vehicles being similar.

There are mixed messages about where the market is. I understand the manufacturers’ desire for more incentives, because that saves them from any penalties or increased charges that they would face under the schemes.

Of course, we have been the only country in the UK that has had incentives in the form of loans to help people to buy electric vehicles. I suspect that the new UK Government will do something similar. We are now targeting our loan scheme at people who live in rural and island areas, for example, and whose earnings are under £50,000.

I will not be definitive as to where the market is. I have heard different views about that, but I think that it is reasonably buoyant and moving the right way. I suspect that the issue is that manufacturers would like the comfort of it moving faster. I expect that the truth is somewhere in between.

I ask Matthew Eastwood to shed some light on the current situation?

The Scottish Government does not provide charge points. We provide funding to help different public bodies, local authorities and, in some cases, homes and businesses and so on.

We have an electric vehicle infrastructure fund that is worth £30 million. Some of that funding has already been released to different authorities, such as Dundee City Council and Highland Council—I announced that earlier in the summer. Glasgow City Council has submitted an application, and that is one of the applications that is being considered.

I suspect that you might want to raise the issue directly with Glasgow City Council and ask it what type of provision it would use any such funding for. The purpose of the funding is also to generate private funding. This year, we think that about £40 million to £50 million of private funding will be put into EV charging.

Specifically on the details of the type of provision, I think that we all want to make sure that EV charging is accessible, but, in your constituent’s case, Glasgow City Council has responsibility for delivering that.

I also point out that regulations that are the responsibility of the UK Government were introduced last November, and that the regulation of EV charging is a reserved matter.

Clearly, the instrument is about extending the schemes to Northern Ireland. As soon as you start talking about electric vehicles, everyone automatically switches to talking about charging, because being able to charge is what gives people confidence to purchase. I understand the connection. Those issues are live and they are current, and I have asked my officials whether there is anything that we can do to help on planning.

I had a very interesting visit to Trojan Energy, a company that is looking at pavement charging quite innovatively. As I said, there are concerns about access and disabled people, and making sure that they do not face any obstruction. That is the key point. The Trojan Energy product is flat—it is flush—but with a Hoover-like extension that you keep in your car and plug in.

There are guttering proposals and different things that can be done. Helping people who do not have driveways will be one of the key things in increasing uptake. I have asked my officials to carry out a piece of work to look very closely at that.

I ask Matthew Eastwood to cover that.

Good morning. I always strive to be brief, convener. Thank you for inviting me to appear before you today to discuss the draft Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes (Amendment) Order 2024, which seeks to extend the territorial extent of the trading schemes to include Northern Ireland.

In 2019, the Scottish Government declared a climate emergency and announced that Scotland would address the challenge by working collaboratively to decarbonise all areas of the Scottish economy in order to reach net zero emissions by 2045.

Transport is the largest contributor to Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions, making up to 31.7 per cent of all emissions in 2022, with road transport contributing to 70 per cent of those emissions. That is why, working with the UK Government and the Welsh Government, we passed the Vehicle Emissions Trading Schemes Order 2023, which came into force in Scotland from January 2024. On 21 November 2023, this committee recommended to the Scottish Parliament that we approve the 2023 order.

That devolved legislation mirrored legislation introduced by the UK Government and the Welsh Government in order to create a Great Britain-wide set of mechanisms to increase the sale of zero-emission cars and vans and to reduce emissions of new non-zero-emission cars and vans. Working closely with the UK Government and the devolved Governments of Wales and Northern Ireland, we are bringing forward an order to extend the scheme to Northern Ireland. The order, which is supported by the UK Climate Change Committee, is before you for consideration.

The vehicle emissions trading schemes put legal obligations on car and van manufacturers. The zero-emission vehicle mandate sets annual targets of sales of new zero-emission vehicles, ramping up to 80 per cent of new car sales and 70 per cent of new van sales in 2030. In parallel, the CO₂ trading schemes incentivise manufacturers to continue to drive down emissions from non-zero-emission cars and vans.

The UK Government analysis estimates that, through those schemes alone, there will be a saving of 420 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions across the UK by 2050, with 40 million tonnes of CO₂ saved in Scotland.

Since the introduction of the vehicle emissions trading schemes legislation across Great Britain earlier this year, fully electric cars now account for 17.2 per cent of total sales. There are now more than 96,000 electric vehicles on Scotland’s roads, and more than 62,000 are fully electric.

Vehicle manufacturers and charge point operators have called for clarity, consistency and ambition from Government. The vehicle emissions trading schemes have provided that clarity and, as of the end of August, in part due to increasing private sector investment and public electric vehicle charging infrastructure, Scotland has more than 5,900 charge points. We will certainly meet our target of 6,000 public charging points by 2026.

Today, we are seeking the committee’s support to extend the vehicle emissions trading schemes to include Northern Ireland, and I invite the committee to recommend to the Scottish Parliament that the order be approved.

One issue that we have to bear in mind is that we think that there is an underestimate of the Scottish figures. For example, the purchasing of fleet vehicles is centred in England, and such purchases count towards the English figures. We think that the figures for Scotland are far higher. There have been recent studies to identify that, so I note there is a caveat with our figures as well.