The Government will not reach its target of phasing out sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040, according to a report by Auto Trader magazine.
In its biannual Market Report it predicts that sales of alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs) will only account for 75% of new car sales by 2040.
Its report suggests that price parity between AFVs and petrol and diesel cars will be reached by 2025 and this will mark the start of a mass transition from fossil fuels to electric.
It forecasts that sales of AFVs will overtake internal combustion engine (ICE) cars by 2030 and by that date AFVs will make up 16% of the UK car parc.
But it adds that on current trajectory AFV sales will still only account for 75% of sales by 2040, and adds that the government will need to do more to drive adoption.
The report says there is a growing appetite among consumers for AFVs, but there are currently a number of obstacles to mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), with 46% of the motorists who are not considering buying an EV citing the high cost compared with ICE cars.
For this reason, it adds, the Government’s decision to scrap the grant for new plug-in hybrids and to cut the discount on all electric cars from £4,500 to £3,500 has the potential to slow down adoption on a mass scale.
Another obstacle is range anxiety, but the report says this is misguided as 99.3% of UK journeys are within the range of the latest EV models, and calls on the manufacturers to do better in publicising this.
Lack of infrastructure was also cited by motorists as an obstacle, but the report says the number of chargers in the UK increased by 51% between November 2017 and February 2019, and the outlook is positive.
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