Ineos boss lynn calder slams government ev-only policy ‘wake up to hydrogen and other ev alternatives’

THE government’s EV-only approach to decarbonisation has “left drivers behind” and is likely to fail, says the chief executive of Ineos Automotive, Lynn Calder.

The firm’s boss was speaking at a ‘road to decarbonisation’ event last week, where the company allowed the first media drives in a hydrogen fuel cell-powered Grenadier off-roader prototype, which it says provides one alternative pathway to decarbonisation that could be on sale in the next decade.

In the much nearer future, Ineos is also planning a range-extender hybrid version of its recently announced Fusilier off-road EV. This will feature a smaller battery with an on-board internal-combustion engine for charging purposes, allowing it to operate independently of charge point infrastructure networks. The range-extender is effectively a hybrid, using tech that is currently set to be outlawed in new cars from 2035. But Calder said a realistic pathway to decarbonisation needs to take the public with it, and suggested the current ZEV Mandate is deaf to the desires of drivers.

Targets

“We all understand the targets that we have to achieve and take that very seriously. It’s just about how we get there. And I think that, with the single horse that we’re trying to back at the moment – in the form of electrification in this country, and in Europe – we’re going to fail,” she said.

“We see consumers voting with their feet at the moment. The Government has said, ‘The market has spoken and the market wants electrification’. I think we can see with the sale of electric vehicles at the moment, the market has not spoken.”

Calder also flagged up the slow roll-out of the EV-charging network. “They [the Government] said that private industry would sort out the infrastructure; it would invest in the infrastructure required at the pace required to fulfil net-zero targets with a technology platform of solely electrification,” she said. “The private sector has not done this – certainly not at the pace required.”

According to the Ineos boss, one of the critical failure points in the Government’s strategy is the lack of engagement with drivers. “Drivers are the cohort that has been completely left behind in this conversation”,