2025 may turn out to be a pivotal year for the UK auto industry. Per Auto Trader, it may be the year more electric vehicles than traditional internal combustion engine vehicles will be snapped up by consumers. More broadly, the switch could even happen a year earlier for alternatively fueled vehicles (AFVs) versus ICE, ie in 2024.
This means the UK’s ban on ICEs by 2030 and hybrids by 2035 could be a realistic scenario. Auto Trader as part of its findings monitored online searches for the UK and reported that Britons searched for electric vehicles in November 2020 93% times more than they did in 2019, indicating a year-on-year spike.
Electric vehicle registrations also shot up by 186% in 2020, making up 6.6% of all new vehicle registrations, despite a year dominate by a pandemic.
In contrast, interest in petrol powered vehicles increased an insignificant 0.6 year-on-year for last month, while diesel mindshare dropped -7.7%
24% of people surveyed by Auto Trader last week were considering purchasing an alternatively fuelled vehicle, which was an increase of 16% from November 2020. The responses of 33% of participants also showed that the UK’s imminent ban on ICEs had an influence on their decision.
Auto Trader is predicting that come 2025, 10% of all vehicles operating on the road would be running on rechargeable batteries, while alternatively fueled vehicles would be 18%. By 2030, the figures would be 30% and 40% respectively. They see ICEs virtually disappearing by the mid 2040’s, only to be encountered in museums.
The report also stated that the demography of people interested in electric vehicles are older, more affluent and reside in high-brow areas, info that should come in handy when an EV company’s marketing department is deciding their marketing target.
Auto Trader expects adoption of electric vehicles to accelerate even more as prices of new models come down. Ian Plummer, Auto Trader’s commercial director, stated “Over the last few years we’ve seen consumer sentiment towards electric grow steadily, and whilst conversion from consideration to purchase remains relatively low, it is accelerating as the latest models become ever more attractive, while aspirational brands like Tesla help shift consumer perception.”
Written by D.O. for www.ShargeMe.blog