From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

We’re three months into the year, and EV sales are still struggling to increase their share of the market:

The government mandated target is 22% this year, but YTD EV registrations only account for 15.5%.

This is despite the fact that fleet sales have been booming this year, a sector with a much higher uptake of EVs because of beneficial tax allowances.

It is the private sector which has proven a much harder nut for EVs to crack, for the very simple reason that very few drivers actually want one.

Despite all of the subsidies, both overt and hidden, it appears that EV sales have hit a ceiling.

Where this will leave government policy remains to be seen, with the target increasing to 28% next year, and 33% the year after.

But it appears they will be between a rock and a hard place. The UK motor industry simply will not be able to afford to pay ZEV fines, which will run into the billions by then. As a result they will surely have to drastically cut back on production of ICE vehicles for the UK market.

And drivers will still refuse to buy unaffordable and useless EVs; instead they will accept long lead times for new cars, as a result of the inevitable shortage of stock, while keeping their old cars longer.

It is painfully obvious that both the government and the opposition parties have believed their own propaganda far too long, thinking that EVs are wonderful and that the public would be queuing up to buy them once a few more charging stations were built. Just as with many other matters, the Westminster establishment has totally lost contact with the real world.