British roads will be home to more than one million electric cars by 2022 according to Chargemaster, the UK’s largest provider of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, based on recent market developments.
Allowing for a modest increase in adoption, Chargemaster’s projection is based on a growth in electric vehicles of just over 7% of new car registrations.
David Martell, Chief Executive of Chargemaster said, “We have seen tremendous growth in the uptake of electric cars over the past five years, as they’ve become more competitive in terms of costs, and more practical in terms of range. The number of EVs on UK roads has increased from fewer than 2,000 in July 2012 to more than 100,000 today. We expect the UK electric vehicle parc to rise to more than one million by the middle 2022, but it could grow to as much as 1.4 million.
“Over the next five years, a significant number of new models will have a range of more than 200 miles, with a lower purchase price than their earlier vehicles. Consumers will also be able to choose from larger range of electric vehicles, from manufacturers including Audi, BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Volvo, as well as significant new models such as the Jaguar I-PACE and Tesla Model 3.”
The UK’s 100,000th plug-in car was registered in May, which Chargemaster marked by driving a fleet of 25 electric vehicles from Greenwich to Milton Keynes, the home of the new EV Experience Centre – a distance of 100,000 metres (62 miles).
More than 22,400 plug-in models were registered between January and June 2017, a rise of 14.3% on 2016 and 53.8% up on the same period in 2015.
June exceeded all previous non-plate-change months with 4,405 new plug-in models sold during the month (33% up on June 2016). Demand from private buyers has driven growth with 44.9% more consumers opting for plug-in hybrid and electric power between January and June 2017, compared to the same period last year.
The fully-electric Nissan LEAF was the UK’s best selling plug-in car in the first six months of 2017, while BMW’s plug-in hybrid 3-Series saloon was one of the year’s biggest growers, rising 79.9% following its launch last year.
