EV charging firm sounds alarm over weak car sales as shares tumble
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The company’s shares tumbled on the London Stock Exchange after it said it was taken by surprise by low demand for its products. Car charging company Pod Point has sounded the alarm over electric car demand, saying new rules could make uptake even more uncertain.
The company’s shares tumbled on the London Stock Exchange after it said it was taken by surprise by low demand for its products. The company, whose largest shareholder is France’s EDF Energy, said it missed its £60m sales target for last year by £7m, sending its shares down by a third in value.
Melanie Lane, Chief Executive Officer of Pod Point, said: “As expected, 2024 has proven to be a transitional year in terms of our financial performance. We made good progress on our costs, but the weaker-than-expected private EV market has negatively impacted revenues.”.
Car makers have been lobbying the government to weaken strict rules which punish them for not hitting strict sales targets for electric cars which go up each year. It emerged in November that the government aims to water down rules which demand car makers switch to making battery-powered cars after pressure from the industry.
But the move came too late to save Vauxhall’s van plant in Luton, where 1,100 jobs are at risk. Ministers have agreed to review rules which say at least 28 per cent of cars made in British factories must be battery-powered. Breaking the rules means either buying credits from competitors who are beating these targets or paying a fine of £15,000 per car.
