YOUR NEXT CAR WILL BE A VOLT:

Electrified transport is powered with electrons which can derive from various domestically produced sources, increasingly wind and solar, rather than depending on imported fuels.

European policy is facilitating the need for an electrified vehicle fleet to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and meet climate goals. The EU will ratify the provisional political agreement (agreed in October 2022) to ban ICE vehicle sales in the EU by 2035, signalling the long overdue demise of this 100+ year old technology. 

But market dynamics may force this demise far sooner; if emissions concerns started this transformation of transport, economic preferences will likely finish it.

The past year has proved that consumer demand for BEVs is still strong, despite headwinds such as inflation and supply constraints of some models, even conservative scenarios still see 50% of sales being BEV by 2027. 

This has led to waiting times of up to 18 months for some new BEVs in Europe. Whilst global vehicle production has been hampered by the on-going semiconductor shortage, the shift from an industry or policy 'push' to a consumer 'pull' is an important tipping point in the development of the BEV market. 

Examining the UK market in more detail we see all the elements of the global shift in transport technology from fossil fuels to electricity.

Even as the UK car market dampened slightly over 2022, demand for BEVs has remained strong and sales have grown, with fossil fueled car sales taking most of the blow of these contractions, demonstrating the strength of consumer need  for BEVs. The overall new car market shrank by 3% over 2022, with fossil fuel sales down by 8%, but new BEV registrations still grew 38%. 

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