Stockport tops the list because the town where EVs and plug-in hybrids have gained essentially the most popularity.
In response to confused.com figures, over the past five years, the town which lies 7 miles south-east of Manchester saw a formidable 851.3% average yearly rise in electric vehicles with the variety of EVs registered in the realm growing from just 415 at first of 2018 to 93,686 earlier this yr. Which means, in theory, that with a population of 294,000, Stockport has nearly one EV for each three residents.
Nonetheless, it notes that almost all of those EVs are registered to firms, suggesting many could be on lease, likely due to high initial costs of EV ownership.
Kim Costello, chief marketing officer and chief customer officer at Pendragon, agreed: “With the big variety of automobile showrooms in Stockport, it is probably going they conduct a big volume of fleet sales. As we all know, last yr fleet sales outperformed retail sales, and paired with the taxation advantages and government initiatives behind recent EV purchases this might have made the proposition very appealing for local businesses within the Stockport area. If fleet sales in Stockport surpassed the national annual trend, it might make sense to assume that this was a key contributing factor as to why Stockport has change into the country’s EV hotspot.”
Costello added that there may be plenty of aspects which could have influenced the uptake of EVs from motorists in Stockport over the past five years.
“It isn’t any secret that Greater Manchester loudly proclaimed their desire to be player within the country’s clean air initiatives. The Clean Air Zone for the region was delayed in 2022 to permit for further consultation, but within the 3 or 4 years leading as much as that, many businesses made the switch to EVs to avoid every day charges and given the concentration of dealerships in Stockport, a superb percentage of those fleet sales could well have been accomplished within the town.
“As well as, in March 2023 Stockport Council announced a £15 million funding initiative with Be.EV for 100 public charging points across 20 locations within the town. The primary of those charging hubs, consisting of 4 charging bays was announced on January 17.
“This investment in charging infrastructure from a neighborhood government level could have given a confidence boost to the local people who were already considering purchasing an EV. The comfort of getting an unlimited amount of ideally placed local charging points may possibly have helped combat customers’ range anxiety, in addition to removing the necessity to have a charging point at home.”
In response to the figures, Gloucestershire’s Forest of Dean has also seen a substantial increase in EVs on its roads, through a 448.6% increase in registered EVs. Between 2019 and 2020 alone, the variety of registered EVs grew substantially, jumping from 214 to five,109.
Redditch within the West Midlands also witnessed annual growth of 206% over the past five years with a notable acceleration in uptake over the past yr from 1,777 to eight,104 electric vehicles.
This Article First Appeared At www.am-online.com
