Opinion: Carmakers are ready for 2030, but EV infrastructure must catch up

Journalists at the 2011 SMMT Test Day could test just a handful of EVs, with a pitiful range. Today, the situation is hugely different.

SMMT Test Day

The annual SMMT Test Day is where motoring journalists go to catch up with cars, colleagues and executives from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

Held at the famous Millbrook test track in Bedfordshire, it is one of our highlights of the year.

Way back in 2011, the first electric cars were available to drive at Millbrook. Just over a decade later, the SMMT has looked back at how things have moved on.

I was there – and I remember the range anxiety that came with those early EVs. They were quirky novelties that were driven with one eye constantly on the range indicator.  

With an average range of just 74 miles, it’s easy to understand why.

This year, the SMMT did its sums again. The average range of an electric car at this year’s Test Day? Almost 260 miles – a three-fold increase.

What’s more, instead of 2011’s buyers picking from just nine plug-in models, they can today choose from more than 140. That’s a 15-fold increase, with 50 more electrified cars due to launch before the end of this year.

It’s easy to see why EVs make up one in five new cars sales today, rather than one in 1,000 back in 2011.

It “shows just how far Britain has come,” said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes. The 2030 target looms large, but such figures confirm “the industry is up for the challenge”.

‘Infrastructure has failed’

SMMT Test Day

The industry’s worry is now not with electric car availability, but with access to chargepoints – because “infrastructure has failed to keep up with demand”.

Indeed, the SMMT is now worried that a lack of chargepoint availability “could stifle greater uptake, with 75 percent of motorists saying there are not enough public chargepoints to meet their needs”.

If electric car ownership is seen as a headache, some may have second thoughts about making the switch. The momentum that is well underway risks slipping as a result.

The industry is doing its bit, by transforming the new electric landscape in just a decade.

“We need all stakeholders, including government, chargepoint providers and energy companies, to match manufacturers’ commitment.”

In Britain’s first electric decade, EV sales have leapt, arguably far faster than anyone could have predicted. Now, the countdown is on for all new cars to be electrified from 2030, and pure electric from 2035.

The figures from the car industry show it can be done. Here’s hoping the charging infrastructure can keep up, so this momentum can be maintained.

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Richard Aucock
Richard Aucockhttps://www.richardaucock.co.uk/
Richard is director at Motoring Research. He has been with us since 2001, and has been a motoring journalist even longer. He won the IMCO Motoring Writer of the Future Award in 1996 and the acclaimed Sir William Lyons Award in 1998. Both awards are run by the Guild of Motoring Writers and Richard is currently vice chair of the world's largest organisation for automotive media professionals. Richard is also a juror and Steering Committee director for World Car Awards and the UK juror for the AUTOBEST awards.

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