UK has more EV charging points than electric cars

The UK has more charging points than EVs

Department for Transport figures say that there are now more charging points in the UK for electric cars than there are EVs.

Yes, we have little time for electric cars as anything more than urban runarounds for those with enough spare cash to pay through the nose for inferior technology. And it’s becoming clear that the great British car buying public feel much the same.

Department for Transport figures have revealed that there are now fewer electric cars on the roads in the UK than there are charging points. According to government figures, there are around 2,500 electric car recharging points in the UK, but just 2,149 electric cars have been sold since 2006. And it’s reckoned around 75 per cent of those have been bought by businesses, who get big tax breaks on EVs.

Even the taxpayer bribe of £5,000 for electric cars seems to have had little impact on sales. So far, just £3.9 million has been paid out to buyers of electric cars, little more than 1 per cent of the funding available. But are we surprised?

Electric cars probably have a usable range of around 30 miles – taking in to account real-world factors like temperature and night driving – before you have to either find somewhere to stop and recharge – which could take up to eight hours – or turn round and go home.

And even with the £5k bribe, electric cars are just stupidly expensive – as much as twice a comparable ICE car. It’s a bit like paying twice as much for a cathode tube B&W TV as a new OLED screen TV. Why would you?

Frankly, until car makers have battery technology which can not only offer comparable range and comparable refuelling times to an ICE car – and comparable pricing – the electric car is nothing more than a Dodo.

Mercifully, the British car buyer hasn’t been taken in by all the EV hype.

By Cars UK