Are EV purchase incentives the best use of public money for the environment?

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Many governments now pay their citizens to buy electric cars. The policy is popular and photogenic, but I would argue it is rarely the best environmental use of public money. The case for incentives is straightforward: transport is a major emitter, and subsidies accelerate the switch away from petrol. Early subsidies in Norway and China genuinely built markets that now stand on their own, proving the tool can work. Yet the arithmetic deserves scrutiny. EV subsidies flow overwhelmingly to wealthier households who would often have bought the car anyway, which means the public pays for emissions cuts that were already coming. The same money spent on public transport, grid decarbonisation or building insulation typically removes several times more carbon per dollar, and serves citizens who cannot afford any new car, electric or otherwise. A bus lane is less photogenic than a subsidy cheque, but it moves more people with less metal. There is also a timing argument. Battery prices have fallen so far that EVs are approaching cost parity on their own; the subsidy's work is largely done, while transit systems remain starved. In conclusion, incentives were a reasonable ignition system for a new market, but as a continuing use of public money they now fail the comparison test. Governments serious about emissions should follow the carbon, not the headlines.