Nearly 100,000 EVs predicted to hit the roads in 2020

EV leasing company DriveElectric has predicted that around 98,500 new battery electric vehicles (BEVs) will be registered in the UK in 2020.

DriveElectric uses its own model built from its intelligence of the UK market to forecast EV registrations.

If accurate, it will represent a significant increase from 37,850 - the number of battery electric vehicles registered in the UK in 2019. This will mean a 260% rise for BEV registrations in 2020 compared to 2019. The figure does not include plug-in hybrids (PHEVs).

The company sees the changes to Benefit in Kind (BIK) company car tax as one of the reasons: there will be zero company car tax on pure electric cars from April 2020 for a period of 12 months. Switching to an EV from a plug-in hybrid could result in savings for the employee and the company in BIK, fuel and National Insurance in just one year of £4,578.
   
Increased availability of electric cars in 2020 compared to 2019, is also cited as a reason, as well as the number of manufacturers that are entering the market with new battery electric vehicles.

What's more, increasing numbers of initiatives such as Clean Air Zones are resulting in organisations considering renewing their fleets with electric rather than petrol or diesel vehicles.

DriveElectric also says that during its trials with electric vehicles, drivers vastly prefer the driving experience of electric cars and vans to that of their petrol or diesel engine equivalents after experiencing EVs.