December’s Electric Vehicle & Alternative Drivetrain News Roundup (2023)
First and foremost, a very happy new year!?
Welcome to the first newsletter of 2024, where we’ll reflect on the overall state of the UK’s EV market throughout 2023, focusing on adoption numbers, market share, investment, and overall progress.?
From a broad perspective, despite new EV registrations in the UK increasing by 50,000 compared to 2022, the overall market share of EVs remained stagnant at 16.5%, a 0.1% decrease over the same period.?
The statistics show that EV sales are continuing to be resilient despite economic pressures.?
The stalled growth in its overall market share has prompted debates on EV pricing and infrastructure, which continue to be noteworthy barriers to adoption in the UK.
The 2023 UK’s EV Automotive Supply Chain in Review: Building Resiliency
Britishvolt’s Collapse Sparks Doubts the UK is Ready For Mass-scale Battery Manufacturing
After a somewhat tumultuous start to 2023, following the news that Britishvolt’s manufacturing plans had collapsed due to insufficient investment, the remainder of the year saw a number of positive developments that ultimately strengthened the UK’s EV supply chain.
The collapse of Britishvolt, which was set to become the UK's first domestically owned battery factory, sparked fresh doubts that the UK was ready to compete with mass-scale battery manufacturers overseas.?
The factory was anticipated to produce enough batteries a year to power hundreds of thousands of vehicles.
Jaguar Land Rover Announce Significant ￡1.5bn Investment
In April, however, positive news surfaced as Jaguar Land Rover announced an investment of ￡15bn over five years in JLR’s industrial footprint, vehicle programmes, autonomous, AI and digital technologies, and people skills.
The ambitious plans include creating a new supply of electric drives and batteries from JLR’s Engine Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton, as well as transitioning their Halewood Plant on Merseyside to an all-electric manufacturing facility.?
Tata Group Announce ￡4bn Battery Cell Gigafactory in Somerset
In July, Tata Group, which owns JLR, also confirmed it would build a ￡4bn battery cell gigafactory in Somerset, establishing a regional battery supply chain for the carmaker, which will fill some of the void left by Britishvolt’s collapse.
Nissan Announce ￡3bn Investment in EV36Zero Hub in Sunderland
The positive news continued through the year, as Nissan also announced that it was expanding its local EV supply chain by investing ￡3bn in its EV36Zero hub in Sunderland.?
The investment will see three new gigafactories being at the hub solely for EV production.?
UK Government Reveals Advanced Manufacturing Plan to Boost EV & EV Infrastructure Production
In addition to significant private investment from a glut of multinational corporations, the UK government announced a ￡2bn Advanced Manufacturing Plan, which includes a new Battery Strategy that will see ￡50 million of government funding allocated to deliver a globally competitive battery supply chain by 2030.?
The UK government hopes to create an environment that will attract future investment in the manufacturing of zero-emission vehicles and batteries.
EV Market Share Remains Stagnant Despite Notable Increase in New Vehicle Registrations
In terms of new EV sales, 2023 saw stalled growth in comparison to previous years in the UK, despite the number of new vehicle registrations increasing by 18% and irrespective of government efforts to accelerate the market in anticipation of the 2035 petrol, hybrid, and diesel ban.
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Annual figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) disclosed that 315,000 new battery electric vehicles were sold in 2023, amounting to 50,000 more than in 2022.?
Despite this increase in the number of new EVs bought, the share of total registrations failed to grow as expected - EV registrations represented 16.5% of the total, slightly down on last year’s 16.6%, representing dwindling growth that has been attributed significantly to pricing.
Europe Celebrates Record Year for Battery Electric Van Adoption in 2023
The passing of another calendar year also brings fresh annual statistics on battery electric van (BEVs) uptake, offering a clear indication of any progress, or lack thereof, towards widespread adoption of the vehicle.?
The statistics paint a positive picture for BEVs, as 2023 saw record volumes of adoption for the vehicles across Europe, according to the latest figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
As depicted in the table above, there was a 21% increase in battery electric vans (20,253) in 2023 compared to 2022 (16,744), representing 5.9% of the market share, which remains consistent.
Since 2019, 58,226 electric vans have been registered in the UK, making it the third largest electric van market in Europe by volume, yet it still lags behind several other European nations by market share, including Germany, France, and Spain.
Mike Hawes, SMMT’s Chief Executive, weighed in on the newly published figures:
Rising demand for new vans in every month of 2023, along with record uptake of battery electric vans, is positive news for the UK, given the vital role of these vehicles in keeping businesses and the economy moving.?
Demand for new vans is also essential for decarbonisation, and as the UK’s ambitious mandate for electric van sales comes into effect, every lever must be pulled to make the switch accessible for fleets in every region.?
If 2024 is to be the year of the electric van, investment in chargepoint infrastructure is mission-critical – bringing with it the successful green transition and economic growth the nation needs.
UK’s Electric Vehicle Charging Network Grew by 45% in 2023
The UK’s charging infrastructure continues to grow at a reasonable pace as the government ramps up efforts to support and facilitate the adoption of EVs and other alternative drivetrain vehicles.
According to new data published by the charger-mapping service Zapmap, the number of electric vehicle chargers in the UK increased by 45% during 2023, which sets new records in the UK for installation rates.?
Since December 2022, over 16,600 charge points have been added to the UK network.
As of December 2023, there are 53,906 public chargers across the UK, 9% (4869) of which are ultra-rapid (100kW+) chargers.?
Ultra-rapid charging installation has increased by 112% compared with the number installed throughout 2022, indicating clear quantitative progression.?
As highlighted in May’s newsletter, there were noteworthy concerns from the RAC that the UK government would not meet its target to have at least six rapid chargers at every motorway service in the UK.?
These concerns have in fact come to fruition, as only 46 of the nation’s 119 service stations meet the criteria set out by the Department for Transport in May 2020.