Electric Vehicle Statistics 2023

✔ Having an electric car can save you £13,500 over its lifetime

✔ 13% of all new cars sold in 2022 where EVs, according to the IEA

✔ Electric vehicles saved 8.4 million tonnes of CO2e in 2022

Electric cars are getting more and more popular. We’ve got you covered with all the latest statistics from the numbers of electric vehicles in the UK, to the price of installing an electric charger, and what it costs to charge a car.

With the real life effects of climate change visible each year, there's never been a better time to reduce your carbon footprint by investing in an EV.

Electric vehicle popularity

How many electric vehicles are there in Britain?

There are around 2.3 million electric vehicles (EVs) in Britain, according to government data from June 2023 – and that number is rising.

As you can see below, new registrations of electric cars have spiked in recent times, as petrol and diesel cars experience a seemingly irrevocable decline.

The majority of electric vehicles in Britain are hybrid models, but purely electric cars are catching up.

What percentage of vehicles in Britain are electric?

Around 7% of road vehicles in Britain are electric, according to government data.

This figure is rising all the time, and will likely explode upwards in the coming years, as electric cars continue to be registered at a quicker rate than diesel and petrol vehicles.

What’s the most popular electric vehicle?

The most popular electric vehicle in the UK is currently the Tesla Model Y. 

From July 2022 to Septembre 2022, UK drivers registered around four as many of these Elon Musk creations as any other electric vehicle, according to the government’s vehicle licensing statistics.

The Tesla Model 3 pulled off a similar this trick between April 2020 and March 2021, according to previous reports, showing the popularity of the Tesla brand.

Do more people own electric vehicles now?

Yes. Britain has seen a massive rise in electric vehicle ownership over the past two decades.

From 2000 to 2009, the number of electric vehicles rose from a mere 400 to 62,800 – a 15,700% increase.

In the 2010s, this figure jumped from 83,900 to 758,200. That represents a massive 904% upward shift.

And the good news doesn’t stop there. Every year since 2010, the annual increases in electric models have gone up. 

And they’ve rapidly surged in popularity over the past few years. There were 166,000 electric models registered in 2019 – and in 2020, this figure rose to 305,400.

In 2022, there were another 665,900 electric vehicles on these shores, compared to 2021. For now, this is a rollercoaster that only goes up.

Despite growing popularity, only 55% of people would have an EV if it were free, according to our National Home Energy Survey.

Electric vehicle carbon emissions

Are electric vehicle owners fighting climate change?

In 2022, electric drivers in the UK stopped the climate from being exposed to 8.4 million tonnes of CO2e*, according to our calculations.

That’s how much CO2e would have been released if the country’s 2,313,900 electric vehicles were powered by fossil fuels instead.

But as long as electric drivers signed up to one of the many 100% renewable energy plans currently available, their vehicles wouldn’t contribute to carbon emissions, giving them an emissions total of zero.

That means that unlike drivers who use fossil fuels, each electric driver will save 54.15 tonnes of CO2e over their vehicle’s typical 150,000-mile lifetime.

If every vehicle currently registered in our country – all 40,697,700 of them – was electric, we could save around 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2e over the course of those vehicles’ lifetimes.

*carbon dioxide equivalent, a measurement that converts all greenhouse emissions into CO2 terms

Driving carbon emissions

The average person in the UK drives 6,800 miles per year, emitting 2.45 tonnes – which comes to 41% of their total carbon footprint.

If you get an electric car and use a 100% green tariff, you can completely eliminate this from your footprint.

How much CO2e would be saved if everyone drove electric vehicles?

Road traffic in the UK released around 99.7 million tonnes of CO2e over the past year, which could be eradicated entirely.

All it would take is everyone driving an electric vehicle that’s charged with green energy – and that’s completely feasible.

You can now sign up to 100% renewable plans with everyone from Octopus to Big Six energy suppliers like Npower and E.ON.

Electric vehicles distance

How far can you drive an electric vehicle without charging?

The average electric vehicle can travel for 198 miles on a full charge – but most of the UK's five most popular models keep going for 280 miles, on average.  

If you were driving north from the centre of London, you could make it to Birmingham, Leeds, or Manchester with some juice left in the tank.

And if you wanted to go south, you could get to Exeter and even Plymouth without needing to recharge – and if you’re looking westwards, Swansea is well within range.

An electric vehicle's range can be negatively impacted by many factors, including:

• Cold temperatures
• Driving at speeds over 65 miles per hour
• Headwinds
• How heavy its cargo is (e.g. you and any luggage)
• Under-inflated tyres
• The heating or air conditioning being on
• Your battery ageing

Electric vehicles money

Cost of owning an electric vehicle vs a petrol car

The average cost of running a 100% electric car is 9p per mile, according to the UK government.

This figure stacks up nicely against petrol cars, which cost 18p per mile –  two times more than electric models.

How much will you save over an electric vehicle’s lifetime?

A car will generally clock up around 150,000 miles across its lifetime, which means that even though electric models can be more expensive initially, they can save you several bucket loads over the years.

If you buy an average electric vehicle, you’ll spend £13,500 on charging it. In contrast, a petrol car will cost £27,000 to go the same distance over its lifetime, which is £13,500 extra.

And of course, you’ll spend even less if you buy a home charger. Fill in this form to see how much one would cost you.

Electric Vehicles: Charging points

How many public charging points are there in the UK?

There are 44,020 public charging points for electric vehicles in the UK, as of July 2023, according to the Department of Transport.

8,461 of these are rapid chargers, which will do the same job at anywhere from two to 14 times the speed of other charging points.

Has the number of public chargers grown over time?

It very much has. Since July 2022, the number of public chargers in the UK has increased by 38%.

Growth has slowed a little recently, despite the overall number of public chargers increasing. For context, from 2018 to 2019, the number rose by 61% – and then from the start of 2019 to the start of 2020, it grew by another 55%.

The current figure of 44,020 is more than five times the number of petrol stations, of which there are now just 8,381, according to the Association for Petroleum and Explosives Administration.

How many electric vehicles are there per public charger?

This number has fallen over the past few years, from 75 vehicles per public charger in 2015, to 53 per charger in 2022.

Ideally, you want there to always be a free public charger when you pull up to a refuelling station. These numbers mean you’ll have to share with fewer drivers, despite the huge rise in electric vehicle ownership.

How about the other way round?

Let’s flip it round. As of 2022, there are 19 charging points for every 1,000 electric vehicles.

By contrast, in 2015, there were 13 charging points for every 1,000 electric vehicles.

That means the likelihood that there’ll be a charger when you need one has increased by 46% in just seven years – and there’s every reason to think that trend will continue.

Other electric vehicles

It's not just electric cars that are growing in popularity.

Everything from e-scooters to e-bikes is attracting a loyal following, and the UK moves away from fossil fuel-powered ways of getting around.

Electric scooters

Currently, you're only legally permitted to ride rental e-scooters in public places – and only in areas which have signed up to a government trial.

You can't use privately owned e-scooters anywhere except on your own property.

However, this is all set to change soon.

After all, the global market for e-scooters is already worth $33,18 billion USD (£26 billion), according to Grand View Research.

And customers in the UK are enthusiastic about these easy-to-ride two-wheelers.

28% said in 2021 that they would consider ditching their car for an e-scooter to “benefit the environment.”

They're not just for fun, either: the public sees them as a legitimate form of transport.

66% of people who told a 2021 government survey that they were likely to buy or rent an e-scooter said they'd do it to reach a destination.

Electric bikes

E-bike purchases have been rising rapidly worldwide for decades, and they're set to take off in the UK.

55% of people told a 2021 survey they were considering buying an e-bike, and that figure rose to 66% in a situation where the government subsidised purchases.

85% of all e-bikes are sold in China, but that won't be true for much longer, as the device's popularity spreads.

9.7 million e-bikes were sold in 2021 – a figure that will rise to 17 million by 2030, according to Forbes.

One reason that people are coming round to e-bikes is the lack of demands they put on people's physical abilities.

20% of people who don't ride a bicycle told a Transport for London survey they were too old or unfit to do so – a problem e-bikes can solve.

Summary

The electric vehicle industry is well-placed to keep gaining on its fossil fuel-powered counterpart at a rapid pace.

With models getting better and better, charging points becoming a more common sight with every passing year, and electricity already significantly cheaper than petrol, it’s clear that electric vehicles are the future.

If you want to embrace progress and get involved, just fill in this form to find out how much an electric vehicle charging point will cost you.