London’s biggest minicab company Addison Lee has U-turned on plans for all its cars to be zero emissions this year.
The car company’s chief executive Liam Griffin told The Guardian newspaper that the news was “disappointing”.
“We were slightly oversold the dream, and it hasn’t been the utopia we hoped for in terms of being able to charge,” he continued.
Two years ago Griffin announced that the firm was investing £160 million into the charging. “This is about a big statement of intent that we want to provide a service that is greener and just healthier for London,” he told Sky news at the time.
“It’s a big step, we’ve had some tough times of late. It’s a positive situation for Addison Lee to find itself in,” he continued, adding that Addison Lee had aspirations to be the market leader.
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However, the uneven rollout of electric vehicle charging points, as well as increased charging prices have caused problems for the firms leading to their decision to delay.
Uber, meanwhile, still pledges to have only electric cars driving for it by 2025.
The government has been criticised for failing to roll out charging points fast enough – with £1 bn pounds of its EV charging fund still not allocated as of October.
More than 20 businesses, including Ikea, Currys and Virgin Media wrote to the government last month urging it to improve EV charging infrastructure so that the country could achieve 100% electric car van and vehicle sales by 2030.
However, the prime minister has pushed back the ban on sales of new sales of petrol vehicles from 2030 to 2035, leading to less confidence about the EV rollout among some car industry members.
