Now is the obvious time to cut electric vehicle subsidies, clearly

Not that we find all that many government things about subsidies and the environment usefully correct but this is one of them:

The boss of Halfords has hit out at Grant Shapps' "crazy" decision to scrap electric car subsidies amid soaring fuel prices.

Chief executive Graham Stapleton demanded a rethink of the policy after the price of petrol and diesel hit another record high this week.

The Government on Tuesday unexpectedly scrapped the £1,500 subsidy for purchases of new electric cars.

It is not the price of an electric car that is the problem. It is the price of one relative to an internal combustion engine car that is. That’s what the subsidy is for - the price plus fuel of the ICE was still less than the EV plus ‘leccie. We desired - for whatever reason - to change those relative prices.

The change in fuel prices has changed those relative prices for us. We no longer require the subsidy to the EV to reduce the price relative to the ICE. Therefore we should stop paying the subsidy.

This seems very simple and entirely sensible to us. Market prices have altered to make the subsidy no longer necessary. Great, let’s not have the subsidy. And?

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