The UK has very nearly reached the milestone of half a million registered electric cars on its road network…
A Milestone For Electric Cars
New government vehicle licensing data has revealed that there are now 456,000 battery-electric cars on the UK’s road network. According to the RAC, the nation will likely hit the milestone of half-a-million electric cars within the next few months. It’s a remarkable achievement for the country, given that there were just 30,669 registered BEVs back in 2016. This number increased gradually, reaching 44,000 in 2017 and just shy of 60,000 in 2018. By 2019, there were 98,000 electric cars and this leapt to 200,000 in 2020.
Nevertheless, there’s a long way to go before the UK’s automotive industry is truly electrified. BEVs still make up a paltry 1.2% of all cars on the roads. This is compared with Norway’s 22.1%, the Netherland’s 4.3% and France’s 1.29%. As it stands, the Government intends to ban the sale of new diesel and petrol vehicles in 2030, leaving only plug-ins and all-electrics in dealerships.
A Long Way To Go
Simon Williams, a spokesman for the RAC, welcomed the coming milestone – but stressed that there’s a long road ahead. He said, “the sight of more cars sporting a green flash on their number plates is a reminder of the fantastic progress that is being made in getting more drivers to go electric”.
He continued, “as we begin to overcome the chip shortage that has so badly affected new car production, the focus for government and industry has to be on encouraging as many people to confidently move away from their current petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles as possible. Key to this happening is a greater supply of pure EVs in the first place, which will help reduce prices, together with improvements to public charging networks”.
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