UK EV Sales Boom in November

With 1 new public charger installed for every 52 new battery electric vehicles sold in November, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) is calling for more chargers to be installed. 

In November 2021, 21,726 fully electric cars were sold, accounting for 19% of all new cars registered in the UK that month, and over double the amount registered in November 2020. With plug-in hybrids growing by 40% year on year, the total of fully or partially electric cars registered accounted for 28% of new car sales in November. 

At the same time, diesel car sales plummeted by 63% and petrol by 10% compared to November 2020. This shows that there is strong demand for electric vehicles in the UK and the public is gradually turning away from fossil fuel cars as their vehicles of choice. 

The SMMT pointed out that there is an urgent need for new public charging infrastructure, with 16 EVs on the road for every public charging point. As an idea of demand outstripping supply, 52 new EVs were delivered for every single public charging point installed in the UK. 

Mike Hawes, CEO of the SMMT said on the matter, “The continued acceleration of electrified vehicle registrations is good for the industry, the consumer and the environment but, with the pace of public charging infrastructure struggling to keep up, we need swift action and binding public charger targets so that everyone can be part of the electric vehicle revolution, irrespective of where they live.” 

One of the acute problems arising is that public charging points tend only to be installed in places where there is high demand, leaving large tracts of rural areas ‘charging deserts’. There are projects at hand to address this, such as the Rapid Charging Devon project, supported by charger manufacturers ZPN Energy. 

Speaking of the problem, ZPN Energy CEO James Foster said, “It is widely recognised that the availability of EV chargers can help or hamper EV uptake and the roll-out of this charging network should encourage more people to go electric.” 

It is clear that more such charging infrastructure projects need to be put into action in order to cater to the rapidly growing demand for EVs here.