Is an all-electric Britain imminent?

The government has recently announced their plans for 2040 which is set to ban the sale of all new diesel and petrol motor vehicles, pushing towards an all-electric fleet on UK roads. The proposal has suggested 50 per cent of all vehicles would be zero-emissions by 2030, however, is this figure slightly too ambitious, considering only 5.2 per cent of new cars sold in 2018 were electric or hybrid cars. Here, we examine what the future holds for electric.


Although it isn’t going to happen over-night, the arrival of all-electric is certainly knocking on the door. Ministers have been told that the majority of new cars would have to be electrically-powered by 2030. A highly encouraging sign was that the increase in purchasing electric cars was close to 30% as compared to the year before. However, it cannot be denied that much more needs to be done if the government is to achieve its goal of 60% of cars being electric in a short time span of a decade.

At the Frankfurt Motor Show which happened in 2017, a word which garnered immense interest and attention was ‘electrification’. An electric version of every brand would likely be in the market in the future. Even though there are current models such as the smart car under its wings, Mercedes’ parent company, Daimler, proclaimed that they would have electric cars of its own fleet before 2022. Nonetheless, this didn’t necessarily equate that the fleet would be powered fully by electric as the term could also mean hybrid models.

Why make the switch?

Ensuring that the environment is protected has become a worldwide issue — and rightly so. Having a greener has been a great issue with companies and major players committing to a more eco-friendly and sustainable operations.

Looking ahead, electric is expected to provide consumers with significant savers as compared to conventional fuel-powered cars. Go Ultra Low has also claimed that a full charge could cost as little as £3, meaning works out to around 3p per mile. As a more apparent eco-friendly alternative, electric motors have been identified to greatly enhance air quality and climate. This has resulted in the production of petrol and diesel-powered cars to cease in a couple of decades’ time. By 2050, these vehicles will have to be off the roads.

London and other major motorways, which also includes the M4 and M32, are currently imposing emission charges. They are also likely to commence pollution taxes by 2020, which would strongly encourage consumers to switch to electric cars.

Powering up

If we go back to February 2017, there were 12,000 charging stations dotted around the UK. There was an encouraging growth to 17,000 charging stations covering 6000 locations by July 2018. By the first month of 2019, the figure had reached almost 20,000 charging stations as reported by Zap Map.

Globally, there exists more than 2,000,000 charging stations. This may seem a lot but for the public to fully switch to electric cars, the number of charging stations have to be increased tremendously. Besides that, more batteries will have to be produced and the power to charge the batteries would have to come from some power source. EV charger installation has an important role in power companies’ action plans as they strive supply a low-carbon connection gateway.

An all-electric future?

Thanks to electricity being a renewable form of energy source, it will always be readily available. Furthermore, the costs associated are on a steady decline, leading to a more affordable starting outlay. Maintenance-wise, electric cars need less due to much fewer moving parts as compared to fuel-powered cars.

Given time and the expected growth in technology and awareness, it can be seen that the future will be an all-electric one. This will certainly bring delight to eco-friendly car owners!

Clay Miller
the authorClay Miller

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