DRIVERS are turning their backs on electric vehicles as concerns over cost put them off buying a battery powered car.
Recent figures have shows another drop in sales for electric vehicles (EVs) in the UK.
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Trade body The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has said drivers stopped buying EVs due to concerns over cost and re-charging.
The latest figures show the number of electric cars bought by private owners has fallen from more than one in three to less than one in four in just a year.
In the first half of this year, 37,000 new electric cars were registered to private retail-buying motorists, or just 24.2 per cent of all EVs.
That is down from the 41,800 EVs sold to private motorists in the first half of last year.
Tesla has already slashed UK prices of its new cars several times in 2023, which in turn has hammered the value of second-hand models in recent months.
A report from the trade body, highlighting the stalled electric car private buyer market, said: “A faster and fairer mass transition [to zero-emission vehicles] is threatened by the absence of support for private buyers, many of whom plan to go electric but are delaying due to concerns over affordability and uncertainty regarding the availability of a charging network.”
On Wednesday, in a major announcement, the Prime Minister confirmed that he intended to push back the ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars from 2030 to 2035.
For some the move is an attempt to acknowledge a growing concern amongst consumers around the higher costs associated with EVs compared to their petrol and diesel versions.
Mr Sunak said: “To give us more time to prepare, I’m announcing today that we’re going to ease the transition to electric vehicles.
“You’ll still be able to buy petrol and diesel cars and vans until 2035.
“Even after that, you will still be able to buy and sell them second-hand.”
