Nissan says drivers need ‘more carrots, less sticks’ to buy EVs

It’s clear that many folk are still pretty reluctant to go entirely battery-powered and that’s prompted plenty in the car business to call for the government to re-introduce incentives.

Speaking at SMMT Electrified, Gareth Dunsmore, e-micro mobility chief at Nissan, said drivers need 'more carrots and less sticks' to buy an electric car. The plug-in car grant hasn’t been available for a long while for consumers, but in addition to not having any help with the expense of buying a new EV, in April the EV exemption from paying road tax will end, too.

While few of us dispute the need for all cars on the road to pay road tax regardless of powertrain, making it more expensive to own a costly car is certainly a unique way to make EVs more appealing. 

As a chunky bit of icing on top of the proverbial cake, the Expensive Car Supplement (ECS) is a curious component of Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) – essentially, it’s a further charge on every car costing £40,000 or more when new. 

The catch? At Kia’s last calculation, the ECS applies to some 70 per cent of EVs, thusly pushing the cost of EV ownership up around £600 per year. 'Go buy an EV' as a takeaway this is not.

The carmakers say this is one aspect causing fewer of us to opt for an electric car. Mike Hawes, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) boss, said: "The Expensive Car Supplement established in 2017 at £40,000 would pick up a lot of premium vehicles. We've been subject to inflation over the past few years, so it's catching many more vehicles. As a minimum, they should be raising that threshold to £60,000 or higher, so it's focused on what the name suggests, not working against [electric] vehicles."

If the EV outlay and new expenses don't wave the 'Buy Me' banner, carmakers can't really rely on charge point availability or cost to sell in the future mobility, either. 

They feel like they've committed serious chunks of cash into creating electric cars, and now if they miss the targets of the ZEV mandate, they're fined – something they feel is unjust if there's no carroty-flavoured cash help for consumers. Paul Philpott, Kia's UK boss, said: "At Kia, we're pretty good at EVs. EV3 just won UK Car of the Year, EV6 is a former European COTY, EV9 is a World COTY award winner – we should be flying through our mandated target, [but] we scraped there.

"We are all feeling we've got swords held above our heads with £15,000-per-unit fines if we miss these targets. We're incentivising and discounting the very best technology that we've invested billions in. It's just all a bit perverse right now."

David George, CEO of BMW UK, agreed: "Overall we've put a huge amount into driving the transition and what we feel now is that – despite trying to control everything that's within our control – retail demand really isn't in line with the ZEV mandate." 

All roads point to government. A committee report on EV charging infrastructure, published 12 March 2026, stated the Department for Transport was falling short of its infrastructure targets, that it's not unlocked the £950 million promised for the Rapid Charge Fund, and that a VAT imbalance between domestic charging and public charging is freezing out a tonne of drivers that don't have a driveway for a charge point.

Lisa Brankin, head of Ford UK, said: "If we can generate customer demand for EVs, we could have a roaring success. I'd like to encourage the government to act quickly."

In response to being asked if they're disappointed with government action (or lack thereof), George echoed Brankin's point: "It's encouraging that the [government is] listening, but we really need some swiftness of decision making."

Interestingly, the SMMT maths reckons although the initial cost to the Treasury would be £1,000 per EV, it cites the £2.5 billion in VAT generated in the past five years from EV uptake. Hawes said: “Manufacturer investment has meant ten times as many drivers are going electric compared with just five years ago. This is great progress but, with the right support for consumers, we can go beyond current expectations to put a total of more than two million new EVs on the road by 2028."

Of course, let's not overlook the fact carrots help you see in the dark, too.