Stalled growth in electric vehicles comes despite government goal to phase out petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles by 2035

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/6354036

The number of new cars registered in the UK has jumped by nearly 18% but electric vehicle demand is flatlining, prompting the industry to call for a VAT cut to stimulate sales.

Annual figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on Friday show 1.9m new cars were registered last year, well up on the previous year’s figure of 1.6m and the highest level since the 2.3m registrations of 2019.

The increase is a boost for the automotive industry after the pandemic led to supply chain problems and a shortage of vital computer chips that slowed production.

Across the year, 315,000 new battery electric vehicles were sold. That was 50,000 more than 2022, but the number being bought as a share of total registrations failed to grow as expected. They represented just 16.5% of the total, slightly down on last year’s 16.6%.

  • jabjoe@feddit.ukEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    I don’t think it will/can kill adoption, but it is slowing it. I’m pretty sure they have done the maths and set the kWh price to match fossil fuel costs as a “this is the most the market will pay”. Your a captive market as there isn’t near by competition and it’s like they have colluded to set the price high.

    You save so much on normal running costs, the cost of the odd long trips are easily swallowed. But it is blatantly profiteering and is slowing adaptation as people think that is how they will refuel.