The change in government in July led to the ban on the sale of new ICE vehicles being brought forward to its original 2030 date. However, things are not going as planned as low consumer demand dogs the EV market.
Quite simply their high prices have continued to put consumers off during 2024. Most sales of new EVs are to fleets thanks to incentives such as the salary sacrifice scheme. Where many private drivers do opt in to owning an EV is via the used car market. High depreciation means drivers can snap up a used EV for a bargain price.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) industry anticipated that 457,000 electric cars would be registered in 2024, which would have accounted for 23.3% of all new car registrations. However, its latest market outlook shows 94,000 fewer cars will be registered, totalling just 363,000 with a market share of 18.7%.
Such has been the concern over lower than anticipated EV sales that the UK automotive industry has called for urgent government intervention to help stimulate demand.
Meanwhile, the number of public chargepoints in the UK has grown from 53,865 at the end of 2023 to more than 70,000 by November 2024, representing a 32% increase in devices, according to Zapmap.
Across the forecourt sector there has been big investment in EV charging from Top 50 number one MFG as well as much smaller players in the market.
In May, Top 50 Indie Midland Motor Fuels put in its first EV chargepoint, at its busy Tyburn Road site in Birmingham. Director Shailesh Parekh took advantage of a new operating model from Forward EV, where he bought the equipment and Forward-EV installed it and now maintains it. It cost Shailesh less than £30k to get the 50kW EV charger up and running.
And in November, Johnny Srikrishna followed suit by installing his first EV charger, via Forward EV, at his site in Epsom, Surrey. The 50kW unit with two contactless charging points was supplied and installed, again for less than £30,000.
While this is good news, a new report from the National Audit Office found that chargepoint rollout was generally being hindered because it is slower and more expensive than it needs to be for chargepoint operators to get planning permission and electricity grid connections.
The report says the UK is currently on track to meet the minimum 300,000 chargepoints needed across the country by 2030, but the government faces challenges to address the location of them, their accessibility and wider barriers such as planning rules.
