UK EV Sales Quadruple in 2014

I know the numbers are still low; 14.5k EV sales out of 2.4 million total car sales in 2014, but the increase from 3,586 in 2013 to 14,498 in 2014 is heading in the right direction.

BBC News - UK new car sales surge to 10-year high in 2014

By contrast the Toyota PIP sold 275 cars in the first 3 quarters of 2014, comparing to 498 they sold in 2013. That indicates 14,000 plug in vehicles were sold by other manufacturers. Have Toyota dropped the ball?

Total sales of hybrids (petrol, diesel and plug in hybrids) have increased here from just over 30k in 2014, to over 50k this year.


UK new car registrations reach 10-year high in 2014 - SMMT

There has definitely been a significant increase of such vehicles these last couple of years.

 

The trouble with these low emission zones is that only a very small number of people actually drive into them already. Sure such a zone could stimulate sales, but a national stimulus would be better.

The UK and Norway both encourage BEVs, but in different ways. Norway exclude BEVs from the high levels of purchase tax, allow use of bus lanes (similar to your HOV lanes), provide free parking etc. Sales of BEVs and plug ins in Norway are massive for the population size. In the UK you get £5,000 off the price and you can get a free charge point installed at your house - for as long as the funding exists. If there were parking benefits to BEVs, then that could help, but parking rules are usually enforced by the local city councils who enjoy the income, so are unlikely to introduce anything that could threaten that.

Petrol prices have come down here lately but we're generally not complacent as most of our fuel costs are tax and if the Government think costs are low, they'll just increase tax to bring the cost back to previous levels that people were 'happy' paying. There are many models of BEV and plug in over here now and that competition is driving demand.