How many people own an electric car?

The UK government have set some ambitious carbon emission targets and are actively encouraging drivers to make the switch from fossil fuelled to electric- powered vehicles (EVs). But how many people actually own an electric car? We take a closer look at the figures to see if drivers are making the transition needed to bring down carbon emission rates.

2020 EV sales figures

The electric car market is growing quickly in the UK, with figures at the end of November 2021 showing over 365,000 pure-electric cars currently out on roads. For plug-in models, there are over 705,000 vehicles currently active, which includes plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). These numbers are likely to quickly increase over the next 8 years before the sale of new internal combustion vehicles are banned in 2030. The Climate Change Committee estimates that there will be approximately 18 million battery and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on UK roads by the time the ban comes into force.

EV registrations on the rise

The biggest annual increase in electric car ownership occurred in 2020, which saw over 175,000 electric vehicles registered. Compared to 2019, this was a massive increase of 66%. Even with the coronavirus pandemic affecting the UK economy, 2020 was a huge year of growth for electric vehicles. In terms of the overall proportion of all new vehicles registered, electric cars also saw a significant increase in sales. As recently as 2015, electric vehicles accounted for only 1.1% of new vehicle registrations. By 2019 this had increased to 3.2%, and by the end of 2020 electric cars accounted for 10.7% as an average for the year (6.6% BEV and 4.1% PHEV).

Popular EV models

According to the Department for Transport, Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV sold over 46,400 by the end of June 2020, cementing its position as the best-selling plug-in car for the past 5 years. It is some distance ahead of its nearest competitor, the Nissan Leaf (31,400 units), with the BMW 330e in third place. Consumers now also have more choice than ever before. In 2011, only 9 electric cars were available, which grew to over 130 plug- in cars and vans in 2020. This is reflected in the number of public EV charging points now available to drivers, increasing 220% between 2016 and 2020, with fast (7-22kW) chargers seeing the fastest growth.

Thinking of installing an EV home charge point?

AAC are OLEV-approved installers of electric car chargers for home and business owners. To find out more about our range of electric car charger services and to organise a free survey and quote, email carchargers@aac.uk.net or call 01707 32 55 66.