Electric vehicles on UK roads to reach one million

Some good news for January! The number of battery electric vehicles on UK roads is expected to hit one million this month, according to the latest analysis.

The facts and figures

The RAC Foundation has announced that over 967,000 electric vehicles were licensed at the end of November. That’s up from 674,000 at the end of 2022. The figures are based on data from green consultancy, New AutoMotive.

Electric Vehicles currently make up 3% of all cars on UK roads and comprise 16% of the new car market. Government figures also show a 41% increase in first time registrations.

Encouraging electric vehicle growth

Growth is set to continue year on year under the Government’s zero-emission vehicles mandate (ZEV), which became law on January 3rd, 2024. It means that at least 22% of all new cars sold by each car manufacturer in the UK this year must be zero-emission. That’s alongside 10% of all new vans.

This threshold will rise annually until it reaches 100% by 2035. Last September, Rishi Sunak delayed the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the UK from 2030.

Manufacturers failing to meet these annual thresholds will need to pay the Government £15,000 per polluting vehicle sold above the limits.

Meeting the need with EV charging infrastructure

Of course, more EV’s on the road means more charging infrastructure is needed. There are currently over 50,000 public chargepoints in the UK, with Technology and Decarbonisation Minister Anthony Browne, citing that the charging network has already grown 44% since this time last year.

Joju Charging is working with local authorities up and down the country to bring more EV charge points online for EV drivers to charge their vehicles. Graeme Patton, Head of EV Charging at Joju, commented:

“It’s fantastic to see the growing number of drivers making the switch to electric vehicles and to be reaching the landmark of 1 million EV’s on the road this month. The challenge is to make sure there is enough infrastructure for people to charge when they’re out and about, whether that’s in public car parks, at on street chargepoints, destination, or en route. We’ll be continuing to partner with Councils across the UK to make that happen”.

With the Department of Transport aiming to hit 300,000 chargepoints by 2030, and Government investment of over £2billion to support the transition to electric, Graeme also added:

“Whilst we wholeheartedly welcome the Government’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund (LEVI) to help councils with their infrastructure roll outs, the key is to have the right chargepoints, with the right speeds, in the right locations, to meet the needs of residents and visitors. Joju Charging is perfectly placed to support local authorities with this challenge, based on our extensive experience in the sector.”

Further reading

For more information, read our EV Charging case studies, or head to our Joju Charging pages.

You can also get in touch with us here.