The UK electric vehicle market has experienced exponential growth in recent years. From a mere 0.6% market share in 2020 with 205,770 electric cars, the number of EVs on UK roads has surged to over 1.3 million by 2024, representing a remarkable over 6-fold increase in just four years.
That may seem like a small increase but humour me for a second; that’s like a footballer scoring 10 goals in one season and then netting 39 goals in the next season.
Or a coffee shop that saw its sales jump from £100,000 in 2020 to nearly £400,000 in 2024. Sounds a bit dodgy to me.
The graph below shows the growth in the number of electric cars in the UK between 2020 and 2024.
At the end of 2020 (and what a year that was!), 6.6% of all new vehicles registered were electric. Just four years on, at the end of 2024, 18.7% of new car registrations are EVs. A further 8.5% of all new cars registered were plug-in hybrids, making the current market share for new cars registered with a plug-in 2024 27.2%.
We’re seeing the rapid increase in demand for EVs and the simultaneous decline in demand for traditional ICE vehicles.
It’s crazy to think how far the EV industry has come in just 4 years, but how about 4² years?
Besides Obama's inauguration, the swine flu, the death of Michael Jackson, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, what was happening 16 years ago in the magical world of EVs?
Here’s the Toyota FT-EV II (Concept) issued in 2009. Let's face it, a glorified go-kart, designed for short, urban travel. Flash forward to the present day, Toyota's new EVs are expected to have a range of 600 miles or more by 2026.
What does the EV market look like today?
Well it’s fair to say that, despite a bit of a slowdown in the latter part of the year, 2024 was still another crazy year of growth with 19,834 new devices installed - which is 19.5% more than last year (16,602). As a result, 27% of all the devices available today have been installed in the last 12 months.
Although fewer new rapid chargers (50kW-149kW) were installed in 2024, the number of ultra-rapid chargers (150kW+) increased significantly. In fact, these new super-fast chargers now account for about 46% of all ultra-rapid chargers. As 2024 is set to be the most exciting year of EV charging to date, we have created a monthly poll (in partnership with Zapmap) that focuses on the growth of public charging!
char.gy’s Plugged-In Predictor
Everyone has an opinion on electric vehicles and the charging infrastructure that comes with them. Are EV sales growing or falling? Are there enough public charge points being installed? Which regions are doing best? The actual numbers often tell a different story than what you could perceive from stories in the media.
So, we’d like to challenge you to predict how many new EVs and public charge points will be installed each month and see whether you know your electrons from your exhaust pipes. It’s a bit of fun. Using Zapmap's data, we'll test your knowledge of the EV landscape each month by evaluating your predictions for public charging growth, new EV sales, and regional charging expansion.
There may even be an enormous prize for the winners (in the mysterious shape of a free charging session, or travel mug – depending on how generous how we’re feeling).
Zapmap have concluded that there will be at least 40,000 charging locations by mid-2025, and potentially as many as 45,000 by the end of the year. This includes a projected 6,000 rapid/ultra-rapid charging locations. While reaching 100,000 devices in 2025 is now unlikely, we expect to achieve this significant milestone in the first quarter of 2026. If the current pace of installation accelerates, we should comfortably surpass 20,000 rapid/ultra-rapid devices this year.
However, perhaps you know better than us...
Cast your votes here! https://forms.gle/MzbvpKvjUj2NG9Gp7