EVs set to treble market share by 2021
Electric vehicles are set to treble their market share across Europe, including the UK, according to analysis by Transport and Environment.
The European NGO discovered that EV sales have surged since 1 January 2020 despite the coronavirus crisis.
The move has occurred as emissions standards have kicked in across multiple countries, and will reach 10% this year and 15% in 2021.
But Transport & Environment, which analysed sales in the first half of 2020, said the UK supply of electric cars is likely to dry up next year in the absence of British regulations equivalent to those in Europe.
Speaking about the findings, Greg Archer, UK director at Transport and Environment, said: “Electric car sales are booming thanks to emissions standards. Next year, one in every seven cars sold in Europe will be a plug-in. European manufacturers have EVs to sell, but from January they’ll have no incentive to sell them in the UK unless the government requires them to do so.”
But the NGO also highlighted the UK government has failed to make parliamentary time available for equivalent new UK regulations to encourage EV sales in 2021. These must be introduced by the end of October to be in place by January and maintain supplies of electric cars to the UK, it stated.
T&E analysis shows that the current draft regulation contains errors that will lead to about a fifth less EVs being sold in the UK than was likely if it had remained a part of the existing EU scheme. This is despite government claims that the rules are equivalent to those in the EU, it said.
Archer concluded: “The electric car is becoming mainstream but we risk turning off the tap in Britain. Carmakers will prioritise EV sales in markets where laws and tax breaks encourage them most, but the UK’s proposed standards are too weak and maybe too late.
“Government needs to quickly introduce regulations equivalent to the EU’s in 2021, or demand for electric cars will outstrip available supply and drivers will be left with long waits to secure their new electric car which will be more expensive.”
