Action Plan Scorecard

MCIA produced its landmark Joint Action Plan with the full support of the Department for Transport in February 2022, charting a definitive pathway to unlocking the untapped potential of the L-Category sector. 

Two years on from the Action Plan’s launch, MCIA’s Scorecard holds a magnifying glass to the Government’s lack of progress in fulfilling the Action Plan, as industry urges the Government to live up to its commitments. 

The Action Plan
L-Category vehicles offer cost-effective and adaptable solutions to emissions and congestion challenges. The Government recognised their benefits for the first time in its 2021 Transport Decarbonisation Plan, tasking MCIA and Zemo Partnership with creating a Joint Action Plan on how industry can work in partnership with the Government to support the growth of the sector. 

Four Pillars, Ten Actions:
The Action Plan’s 10 Actions are grounded on four pillars, each essential for the flourishing of the L-Category sector. 

• Supply Ahead of Demand: Delivering the Product
• Drive Demand: Stimulating the Market
• Improve Access: Offering Viable Alternatives
• Increase Integration: Incorporating PLVs into Infrastructure and Communities

Industry Leading The Way 
Since the Action Plan was launched, industry has already held up its end of the bargain in spades. 

Taking a proactive approach to Action 6, it launched the A Licence to Net Zero campaign to make acquiring a moped, motorcycle or other PLV licence less complex and less costly, improving access and enabling a cleaner and greener future for all. 

Further to Action 9 it formed the PLV Community, a collective of like-minded organisations to help coordinate and manage delivery of the Action Plan. Moreover, industry has put on the table a comprehensive set of proposals for a regulatory review to address e-step scooter concerns and future-proof regulation to cater for the evolution of new products.

From Action Plan To Scorecard
The Scorecard credits the Government for taking initial steps to live up to its Action Plan commitments such as providing £350,000 of grant funding for research and preliminary investigations to accelerate the development of zero emission PLV manufacturing. 

However, it reveals a worrying disconnect between the Government’s ambitions for the sector and tangible steps to turn plans, policies and papers into action.

For instance, although Department for Transport officials attended a couple of PLV Community meetings, the group has been left to its own devices with no Government support.

This trend is indicative of a lack of joint up thinking on transport policy, which sees the Government laud the benefits of PLVs to rural communities in one breath, before excluding mopeds and motorcycles from its “Future of Transport: Rural Innovation” document in the next.

Time For Action
The Government holds the key to fulfilling the Action Plan to the benefit of not only the L-Category sector but the realisation of its own mobility aspirations. 

The Scorecard underscores the urgency for the Government to match its ambitious vision with concrete progress. 

Industry has and will continue to play its part, but it can only do so much. MCIA has utilised the Scorecard to urge the Government to deliver on the Action Plan and will continue to work with the Department for Transport and other government agencies to foster a prosperous future for the L-Category sector.