There is no statutory provision for disposing of or scrapping electric vehicles on the island, the Department of Infrastructure (DoI) minister has admitted.

Ramsey MHK Lawrie Hooper asked minister Tom Crookall about the issue at this week’s House of Keys sitting.

Mr Crookall said the DoI does not make provisions for the disposal or scrapping of electrical vehicles which he says is undertaken by private business.

He said: ‘The department is currently working with industry stakeholders to determine the most effective and safe pathways to dispose of the batteries from the scrap vehicles and the vehicles themselves if the battery is part of the vehicle.

‘If there is a vehicle involved in an accident it is dealt with by the fire service or the recovery service on the island who have had training in this.

‘If needs be, they are stored in a safe place and away from other places. Fortunately we do not have many of those at the moment.

‘If a car gets past its sell-by date, replacing the battery is far more expensive and trading in the vehicles when they are still in a reasonable shape they are exported off the island when it is safe to do so.’

But Mr Crookall admitted if a car has been damaged or is not driveable then it is a lot more complicated and discussion are ongoing between the DoI, Steam Packet, insurance companies and others, on the best way forward.

Mr Crookall said it does take a long time ‘with a lot of paperwork’ to ship these vehicles off the island, which have to be made safe, and can take a ‘year or two’ to sort out the insurance.

But Mr Crookall said: ‘The biggest problem for owners is trying to get things done to them on the island rather than having to ship them off.’

Mr Hooper raised concerns about storing the vehicles and whether we could end up with fields or warehouses full of old electric vehicles waiting to be shipped off.

Mr Crookall said: ‘I will be concerned if we get to that stage where we have fields full of these vehicles. There isn’t that situation at the moment and the number is in single figures I am told.

‘The best way is to get rid of the battery with the vehicle and do it when it is still working and get it off the island.’

It was revealed during a Tynwald sitting earlier this year that there are currently 1,306 registered electric vehicles in the island and 133 electric vehicle charging points - roughly one charging point for every 10 vehicles.

The Isle of Man Government has previously said that in six years’ time, it’s ‘likely that there will be more than 13,000 electric vehicles in the island’.