As the number of people who are expected to make the switch from traditional petrol or diesel powered vehicles to cleaner and greener electric vehicles increases, there is a growing concern that British cities are not prepared to accommodate them.
Current sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars are growing year on year, and research suggests that this trend is expected to continue with up to 18% of motorists planning to switch to electric cars over the next two years. However, the current network of publicly available charging points is not sufficient enough to deal with any such increase in demand, with cities such as London, Manchester, and Liverpool all expected to fall short in the number of charging points unless action is taken.
There is also concern that a significant increase in electric vehicles could also place extra demand on the UK's national grid, with the need for electricity to charge vehicles contributing to the pressure already seen during peak times when demand is at its highest. One way to mitigate this would be to use smart technology that only starts charging the vehicle outside of peak times. This would require some significant investment in the existing stock of charging points as they do not currently have any such smart technology installed.
With the UK committing to a non-binding target of a 30% market share for electric vehicles by 2030, it is hoped that by identifying these issues early, any barriers to future ownership of electric vehicles can be overcome by igniting a national debate on how best to manage the UK's demand for energy, as well as facilitating future growth, from this market.
