Low Electric Car Take Up in Essex

Essex is one of the counties with the worst electric vehicle uptake in the UK, new research finds.

16:39 25 August 2021

New research released by New Automotive shows that Essex is among the worst counties in the UK when it comes to electric vehicle uptake along with Lancashire. 

 

The transport research group confirms that the two aforementioned counties' EV uptake is only 6per cent in July 2021. 

 

With the transport sector being responsible for 27per cent of the UK's greenhouse gas emission, switching to electric vehicles is one of the key factors that can determine whether or not the UK will be able to meet its goal to reach zero carbon emission by 2050. 

 

Ben Nelmes, head of policy and research at New AutoMotive, said: “I would imagine it would largely be that the places where we see high take up are places where the distances people drive are very low – London for example gets a very high take up and electric cars are very suitable for people who live in London because they don’t drive very far, so charging is less of an issue.

 

“For example Coventry City Council has done all sorts including public information promoting the fuel cost savings of owning an electric vehicle, which is not understood by a lot of people.”

 

“But we also see a continued and worrying growth in hybrid sales. Hybrids are not net zero vehicles, and we are concerned that customers are paying over the odds for a technology that will soon be outdated.

 

“Local authorities need to make decisions based around the evidence where charge points need to go. There is nothing worse with a charging network that is huge but is in all in the wrong places.”