The UK Government recently announced the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles is being brought forward from 2035 to 2030 to accelerate the switch from fuel vehicles to new alternative fuel and electric vehicle (EV) models. While the ban doesn’t affect existing registered petrol/diesel vehicles, it does bring a sense of urgency to develop battery technology and charging infrastructure.
EV adoption is on the rise in the UK; GMAP’s analysis of the
DVLA's anonymised data set
demonstrates new EV registrations up to Q3 of 2020 have already surpassed the total for 2019. This level of increase, in a year marked by COVID-19 disruption, can only be good news for this growing sector.
However, several common challenges facing wider adoption of EV’s remain; purchase cost, battery driving range, charging point speed and charging point access. The Government has pledged funding to combat these issues affecting EV adoption and it’s clear, there is a vast amount of work to be done in the next 10 years to prepare for the transition. The question is, will we be ready?