E-Bikes Subsidies

[Psamathe]

UK may consider electric vehicle subsidy to increase cycling
...
The UK government could potentially consider providing subsidies for electric bicycles and electric cars as part of a concerted policy effort to get more people cycling, the roads minister, Jesse Norman, has said.

I'm confused. Why should e-bikes be subsidised and not all bikes? If e-bike subsidies would make more people start cycling surely subsidies for all bikes would encourage even more people.

I have long thought that bikes and bike components and maintenance should be zero rated for VAT.

And, why would subsidising electric cars get more people cycling?

Ian

[rmurphy195]

UK may consider electric vehicle subsidy to increase cycling
...
The UK government could potentially consider providing subsidies for electric bicycles and electric cars as part of a concerted policy effort to get more people cycling, the roads minister, Jesse Norman, has said.

I'm confused. Why should e-bikes be subsidised and not all bikes? If e-bike subsidies would make more people start cycling surely subsidies for all bikes would encourage even more people.

I have long thought that bikes and bike components and maintenance should be zero rated for VAT.

And, why would subsidising electric cars get more people cycling?

Ian

Don't be confused - its all about reducing pollution, especially in towns. So electric bikes and electric cars are seen as being part of the solution - depends on how you generate the power

[Si]

You could argue that normzl bikes are also subsidised with the cycle to work scheme. Alas this isnt open to all.....me for instance

[PH]

You could argue that normzl bikes are also subsidised with the cycle to work scheme. (

Electric bikes are already included on the cycle to work schemes, though it's harder to find one if you can only get the usual £1,000 voucher.

Alas this isnt open to all.....me for instance :-

Isn't open to a lot of poorly paid people who would most benefit from it, you can't sacrifice salary if that would take you below the minimum wage. Of course it also requires a willing employer, which not everyone has.

[PH]

There's a scheme being run in Rotherham where you can borrow a bike, electric or not, for three months and get help buying one after that if you get on with it (I'm hazy as to what that help is)
They let me have a go on one when they were doing a promotion at last years Tour of Yorkshire. I'd be interested to know what the conversion rate is, but IMO getting people to try it without risk is more beneficial than the eventual cost.
http://www.journeymatters.co.uk/

[old_windbag]

I have long thought that bikes and bike components and maintenance should be zero rated for VAT.

I've thought that for a long time too, partly because of what Si indicates of having a bike to work scheme that is only open to those whose companies support it. Mine most definitely did not. In fact no vat on any fitness equipment would be advisable.

Some of the lost vat could be returned in reduced hospital visits and prescriptions and the cost to the system of those. But we can always put a little extra vat onto wine,beer,fags and cars..... amongst many goods.

[Bmblbzzz]

I think the reasoning is that electric bikes, being easier to ride and faster than normal ones (at least in perception), will appeal to some people who find cycling too difficult and/or intimidating. The hope (supposedly) is that they will then replace some car journeys with e-bike journeys.

[The utility cyclist]

Anyone pushing for helmets or hi-vis NEVER uses actual representative facts or doesn't massage facts to suit their agenda. Even the now mickey poor TRL can't not manage to twist things/do a micturate poor job http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1230.html
I wouldn't trust Norman to be in charge of a wheelbarrow, the guy is a moron top to tail and any waffle coming from him is merely to cover his previous BS.

[Stevek76]

You could argue that normzl bikes are also subsidised with the cycle to work scheme. Alas this isnt open to all.....me for instance

By the time you factor in the cut that cyclescheme, as the provider pretty much all large companies use, take, as well as that most companies time such things to coincide with the tax year which means all the deals on last years bikes have gone, it's not all that much of a subsidy for most either.

Nice little earner for cyclescheme though, they must be raking it in.

[Username]

UK may consider electric vehicle subsidy to increase cycling
...
The UK government could potentially consider providing subsidies for electric bicycles and electric cars as part of a concerted policy effort to get more people cycling, the roads minister, Jesse Norman, has said.

I'm confused. Why should e-bikes be subsidised and not all bikes? If e-bike subsidies would make more people start cycling surely subsidies for all bikes would encourage even more people.

I have long thought that bikes and bike components and maintenance should be zero rated for VAT.

And, why would subsidising electric cars get more people cycling?

Ian

It wouldn't. It's a thing where everything that the government does is at least one of the following:

Unfit for purpose
Inefficient
Pedantic
Senseless or moronic (this is the one that applies here)
Wasteful
Red taped to ****
Generally crap


Also is your name (Psamathe) really named after a moon? or something else? I was trying to remember where I heard it before.

[Username]

I have long thought that bikes and bike components and maintenance should be zero rated for VAT.

I've thought that for a long time too, partly because of what Si indicates of having a bike to work scheme that is only open to those whose companies support it. Mine most definitely did not. In fact no vat on any fitness equipment would be advisable.

Some of the lost vat could be returned in reduced hospital visits and prescriptions and the cost to the system of those. But we can always put a little extra vat onto wine,beer,fags and cars..... amongst many goods.

Oh fudge no! We already don't pay road tax!

Slightly more seriously, the VAT on cycle related products and services should go towards funding a cycling network or improving the current one. Motorists wanna get us slugs off the road, and we would like somewhere safer to ride along side busy roads. Everyone wins. But this is the real world, see my above post about government.

[Psamathe]

....
Also is your name (Psamathe) really named after a moon? or something else? I was trying to remember where I heard it before.

Moon (Neptune X)

Ian