To ask the Minister for Infrastructure what plans she has to increase the number of electric vehicles sold.

In the coming months, I will be working to identify actions to support the decarbonisation of transport and infrastructure services that will help to reduce carbon emissions. I will also quickly determine my longer term priorities to address the climate emergency. I recently met with Minister Poots MLA and announced a commitment for our two departments i.e. DfI and DAERA to work collaboratively to promote the use of electric vehicles and specifically to improve the charge point network across the North.

The Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) provides a range of e-car related grants towards the purchase of electric vehicles including home, workplace and residential charge points to support the uptake of electric vehicles. The UK government recently announced that the ban in the UK on the selling of new diesel and petrol vehicles, including for the first time the selling of new hybrid vehicles, would be brought forward from 2040 to 2035 and would come even earlier than 2035, if possible. The UK-wide ‘Road to Zero’ strategy sets out a number of targets and actions in order to achieve an increase in electric vehicles on a UK-wide basis.

My Department closely monitors the range of e-car related grants and provides advice and guidance to support the uptake and the transition to zero emissions.