A new report by WWF-UK has found that the UK will need at least 1.7 million plug-in electric vehicles by 2020 and 6.4 million by 2030 to meet its climate targets.
According to WWF-UK, if the UK achieves its climate change targets, plug-in electric vehicles would then represent 6% of all UK vehicles in 2020 and 18% in 2030, and 15% and 20% of new car sales in 2020 and 2030, respectively.
In fact the faster the rise of electric vehicles, the bigger the reductions in fossil fuel use – and the more the country saves on oil imports, WWF said.
The report, Electric avenues: driving home the case for electric vehicles, examines three scenarios for EV take-up. It concludes that the most ambitious scenario would cut UK fuel demand by 80 percent, save more than £5bn in annual fuel costs, and slash car emissions by three-quarters by 2030.
WWF-UK claims that substantial government subsidies, along with other incentives will be necessary to get those numbers of plug-in electric vehicles on the roads.
”By 2030, we should have 10m electric cars and 1m electric vans. So far, the government has been a little cautious, [but] I hope this will change in the context of the fourth carbon budge,” said David Norman, director of campaigns at WWF-UK.
”It is vital that people start consuming and traveling less to make a transition to a low-carbon economy and reduce our dependency on oil and emissions from cars. Road transport accounts for 40 per cent of petroleum products consumed in the UK so a switch from conventional cars powered by petrol [gasoline] or diesel to EVs would have a much needed impact on reducing fuel demand. It is clear that at least 1.7 million EVs will be needed by 2020 and 6.4 million by 2030 in order to achieve the level of ambition that we need,” concludes Norman.
The report’s findings tie in with the EU’s Transport 2050 roadmap, which aims to rid cities of conventionally fuelled cars by 2050.
Click here [pdf] to read the WWF-UK’s 50-page report.
