Electric cars are about to become more commonplace on the busy streets of London as official figures released this week have revealed an overall 22% rise in sales.
800 new EV’s – including hybrids – were registered in the capital city from Jan to March than ever before.
650 were registered in the city in first quarter of 2015, while in the south-east – where some 3,019 cars are now registered – saw a whopping 85% jump.
The figures may be slightly skewed, however, by the fact that there are multiple companies in the south-east – such as Reading and Slough – who may have recently opted for electric car fleets.
Why Are Southerners Going Electric?
One of the reasons for the surge in sales is down to concerns over pollution – especially in London where experts reckon 9,000 people die per year of air pollution – but driving an electric car in the capital city also makes a lot of sense for commuters.
According to David Stupples of City University: “Electric cars are proving increasingly popular in the south east among commutes who use them to drive to the station where charging infrastructure has been installed.”
Other reasons why people in the south-east of the country are making the switch to electric cars before anyone else include the fact that a lot of families have two cars, and are warming to the idea of one of them being electric.
Philip Gomm of the RAC Foundation said: “Whether Londoners drive an ultra-green car or an old gas guzzler, they face the same problem – where to park them.
“Thrown in the trip hazard of a charging cable and you can see why ownership might be low in the capital compared with the shires.”
EV’s in the UK have now broken the 10,000 mark.
