UK EV adoption - gaining momentum or losing speed?

Whilst the industry consensus remains that the future of road transport is electric, EV sales growth, which has been driven by early adoption and extensive government subsidies across Europe, has started to slow in some markets. Despite significant early progress, the UK now finds itself slipping behind its European counterparts. Ranked joint 11th out of 13 European nations in our 2024 PwC Global eReadiness Index, with a score of 2.4 out of 5, the UK's readiness for mass EV adoption is faltering, partly due to previous reductions in grants and the limited availability of affordable models.

Our study categorises consumer readiness for EVs into three groups: ‘EV Owners,’ ‘Prospects,’ and ‘Sceptics.’

Key UK findings:

1. EV adoption is growing but is being held back by limited affordable options (70% of survey respondents across EMEA expect their new EV to have a price point under £34k)
2. Intent to buy is strong with 65% of UK ‘prospect’ respondents indicating they will buy an EV in the next 5 years. Building brand loyalty and trust are key to convert these potential buyers.
3. Buying needs vary between our survey respondent categories with common themes on pricing, battery, range and charging.
   • UK EV owners’ satisfaction primarily comes from better battery lifetime (57%), recharging time (50%), and driving range (41)% with dissatisfaction coming from higher maintenance costs and range.
   • UK “Prospects” key purchasing criteria are price (65%), safety (50%), battery range (44%) and brand (41%). Blockers are recharging time (54%), battery lifetime (42%) and perceived higher upfront costs than ICE (37%).
   • For UK “Sceptics”, key barriers are long recharging time (50%), concerns about limited range (43%), and uncertainty about battery lifetime (39%).
4. Second-hand EV market is slowly gaining traction and EV owners show considerable appetite to buy a used EV (nearly 50% of EV owners surveyed).
5. Charging infrastructure is no longer the main issue - the UK has enough charging spots to support current EV demand and the Chancellor announced in the October 2024 Budget £200m towards expanding on-street charging
6. Government incentives have been gradually scaling back as part of a shift towards market self-sufficiency. Encouragingly the October 2024 Budget announced measures to support EV growth and discourage ICE ownership (BIK, VED, 100% first-year allowance, infrastructure investment)