The government has stated that from 2035 all new cars sold in the UK will be full-electric, either battery or fuel-cell. In addition, it has said it will ban pure-petrol and diesel from 2040.
While this is good news for the environment and reducing emissions it will, however, take a huge effort to achieve this goal. In 2019, only 38,000 pure EVs (electric vehicles) were sold in this country. That is just one in 60 of all new car sales.
This year, a lot more sales are expected. For a start, new emission and tax rules give a great incentive for company car drivers to go electric. In addition, it is believed many manufacturers have been holding back their new electric cars so they had ample supplies in 2020 to help them achieve their average CO2 targets which have become much stricter.
As both supply and demand increases sales are bound to rise.
So, are the car manufacturers ready for the EV revolution? Some, such as Tesla, Nissan and Renault, have been producing them for years. Both the VW Group and Kia say sales of pure electrics are well on course. By 2025, VW aim to have 25% of their sales electric, Kia 20% by the same year.
Volvo currently produces no full EVs but is planning for a drastic increase in the near future. They say they will have electric versions of all their cars on the road as soon as 2025, with an estimated 50% of new car sales by then being EVs.
So, although the government’s targets seem daunting, it seems the car manufacturers are already rising to the challenge.