Growth of electrical driving stalls on charging issue

The growth of the electrical vehicle market has slowed, as questions hang over the implementation of charging infrastructure. While charging speeds are broadly satisfactory, sales of EVs have plateaued in markets like the UK and Germany.

While the start of the decade saw clamour for electric vehicles (EVs) growing – and some studies even suggested that they would become ‘the norm’ in the UK by 2030 – the reality has so far been underwhelming. With the previous UK government pushing back a long discussed ban on the sale of new combustion-powered cars, EV uptake is not anywhere near the levels imagined – while the charging infrastructure needed for wider adoption is still a distant target.

While the new Labour government said it would re-introduce the 2030 ban of new combustion vehicles, that initial pause seems to have greatly hindered sales of EVs in the UK. A new study from Roland Berger suggests that growth in EV sales and parc penetration showed sings of slowing in late 2023, citing “policy changes in mature markets such as Germany and the UK.” Indeed, while sales penetration of EVs is now at 91% in Norway, and hit 44% in the Netherlands, the UK, Germany and France – which each comprise of 4-5% of the passenger car parc in Western Europe – penetration still lags at 25%.

Getting that to change may require more than a simple change in policy, however. The roll out of charging points in the UK, for example, has been disastrously mismanaged to date. Only 16,178 public chargers were installed across Britain in 2023 – or 44 a day. A daily average of 110 would have been required to hit the UK's target of 300,000 in the country by the end of the decade.

Roland Berger assessed the charging-facility readiness of the world’s leading EV markets, and found to that end that the UK is stagnating. China led with a score of 82, while the US followed at a score of 70 – but the UK still scored 69 along with France and the Netherlands.

While the majority of users said they were satisfied with the speed of charging their cars when they were plugged in, this might place strain on the system if the number of EVs continues to rise. Globally, only 16% of EV users are able to cover all their mileage without using public facilities.

While that figure rises to 23% for Western Europe, 46% would still need to access public charging stations for more than 40% of their mileage. But one positive development which could help expedite the process of charger roll-out in the region could be the increasing private sector interest in it.

The researchers added, “Charging-related investment events have become increasingly popular with the active expansion of industry parties and the participation of start-ups, leading to 10 more disclosed funding activities in 2023 than in 2022. In Italy, competition was boosted by increased private investment. 2023 saw a total transaction value of EUR 710 million across seven major transactions in Italy – six more than 2022. These were mainly represented by investments in smaller players such as Powy and Atlante.”