{"id":356794,"date":"2025-08-19T12:35:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T12:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/356794\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T12:35:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T12:35:19","slug":"car-clubs-in-london-could-become-unaffordable-after-ev-discounts-are-slashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/356794\/","title":{"rendered":"Car clubs in London could become ‘unaffordable’ after EV discounts are slashed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The move will likely see electric car clubs become \u201cunaffordable\u201d for consumers in central London, reports Kumail Jaffer, Local Democracy Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"credit Car Clubs EV<\/p>\n

A proposal by Transport for London (TfL) to slash the cleaner vehicle discount for electric cars will only lead to more polluting cars on the capital\u2019s roads, the authority has been warned.<\/p>\n

Under plans being consulted on, the 100% discount for electric vehicles (EVs) will be cut to 25% from the start of 2026, while the fee for driving in the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ) will rise from \u00a315 to \u00a318.<\/p>\n

The moves will likely see car clubs, which offer short-term car rentals to members, become \u201cunaffordable\u201d for consumers, according to shared transport charity Collaborative Mobility UK. The charity, which warned that the change could cost car club operators more than \u00a31million a year, have now called for EVs in the schemes to be treated differently from private electric cars.<\/p>\n

Richard Dilks, chief executive of Collaborative Mobility, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): \u201cAround 37% of the car club fleet in London are EVs, compared to just 5% of all cars in London. Operators have been leading the way in the transition to clean car travel, but now face being penalised by the changes announced by TfL.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current 100% discount for EVs entering the Congestion Charge Zone must continue for car club vehicles, which should clearly be treated differently to private cars. This would recognise the ability of car clubs to cut traffic congestion, carbon emissions, and user costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would also allow Londoners to keep accessing alternatives to fossil fuel vehicles at a fraction of the cost of ownership. Each car club vehicle replaces 31 private cars in the capital, freeing up space, cutting congestion and improving air quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would therefore be utterly baffling if car clubs were treated as private cars under these changes. We hope that TfL listens before it is too late. There are no logical grounds for continuing to discriminate against cars that are shared between many people, including those on lower incomes, in favour of privately-owned cars used by far fewer people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf these changes go ahead, car clubs will face significant extra costs which will be difficult not to pass onto customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s own transport spokesperson on the London Assembly, Elly Baker, is calling for traders to be exempt from TfL\u2019s changes. She told the LDRS: \u201cTfL should be backing the transition to electric vehicles, including for car clubs, with a 100% discount on the congestion charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cCar clubs help cut overall car journeys and ease congestion by giving Londoners access to a car when they truly need one, without having to own it. TfL should be making it as easy as possible to promote the growth of car clubs and incentivise their vehicles to be electric.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several key stakeholders have also weighed in on the proposed changes to EVs in car clubs. James Taylor, general manager at Zipcar, said: \u201cCar clubs are a proven congestion-reducing measure, they provide a vehicle when Londoners need one, reducing the need for private car ownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of this, car clubs also help to remove older, more polluting private vehicles from London\u2019s roads. This is why we believe that car clubs should be treated differently to private vehicles in the congestion charge proposals.\u201d<\/p>\n

A TfL spokesperson said: \u201cThe congestion charge has been in place since its introduction in 2003 to manage traffic and congestion in the central 1% of London during the busiest times of day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout the changes proposed in our consultation, the charge would become less effective, with an estimated additional 2,200 vehicles in the zone on an average weekday.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder these proposals, we are also proposing a new cleaner vehicle discount for those who do need to drive in the zone so they would still be able to benefit from a discount if they drive an electric vehicle, with a greater reduction for journeys that are harder to switch to walking, cycling and public transport, such as those made by vans for vehicles used for commercial purposes.<\/p>\n

\u201cCentral London is one of the best-connected places in the world with high quality sustainable transport options.\u201d<\/p>\n

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More Information about donations<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The move will likely see electric car clubs become \u201cunaffordable\u201d for consumers in central London, reports Kumail Jaffer,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[854,748,41722,1305,393,4884,257,11513,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-356794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-air-pollution","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-congestion-charge","11":"tag-electric-vehicles","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-transport-for-london","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115055462088466379","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}