Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is a shot in the arm for the green economy in the US - but nowhere else. Providing huge subsidies to green products only if they bear a ‘Made in America’ tag has ruffled feathers and provoked responses across the Atlantic. The EU is relaxing its commitment to free and open markets and boosting subsidies for clean technologies. So, how should the UK respond?

Oxfordshire-based company WAE are the perfect example of a British company taking full advantage of the economic opportunities the transition to net zero offers. How can the government best support new green industry to ensure WAE’s success becomes the norm, rather than the exception?

As we have come to expect, electric sales were not as strong in January as in previous months late last year. Just 4% of the new van market was electric in January, as the fuel type largely maintained its market position from this time last year. Despite this, there were positive signs for future growth in January, as Royal Mail deployed its 4,000th e-van - demonstrating just how effective a well planned electrification strategy can be.

The torrent of bad headlines about the UK’s electric car ambitions has not deterred consumers, according to New AutoMotive’s latest Electric Car Count data. Electric car registrations grew 6% in January, recording the fastest growth of any fuel type.

Just under 17% of all new cars registered in the UK over the course of 2022 were fully electric, and the first 6 months of the year saw more EVs registered than over the whole of 2020. Despite this, late December and early January saw a raft of negative headlines around EVs. Much of this discourse centered on concerns around the UK’s public EV charging network.

To mark the end of 2022, we are releasing a special extended edition of Electric Van Count. This edition will provide monthly figures for December, as well as look backward at the last 12 months and assess how e-van take-up fared over 2022.

‘Tracking the S-Curve’ will be a regular blog produced in collaboration between New AutoMotive and Carbon Tracker, aimed at providing insight on the transition to electric transport.

British motorists are driving fewer miles, in the new post-pandemic normal. The average annual mileage in the UK was just under 5,400 miles in 2021. Despite this, figures suggest that the transport sector is still the biggest single contributor to the UK’s total carbon emissions output.

Once again, December was a very strong month for new electric car sales, recording their highest ever market share. One in three new cars were electric, making them the second most popular type of car sold in December. For the first time since at least 2010, petrol’s share of the market fell below 40% - a significant milestone in the decline of fossil fueled cars and the transition to electric. 

At New AutoMotive we are often approached by people who are thinking of making the switch to an electric vehicle (EVs), but need help to figure out if it’s worth their while. For most people, our cost saving calculator provides a simple and easy way to calculate how much can be saved by going electric. However, sometimes there are unique cases which are a bit more complicated.

The UK’s electric van market looks set to finish the year strongly -  despite another month of disappointing sales for the van market overall. The number of new diesel van registrations in November were down 39% compared to November 2021. In contrast, the actual number of new electric van registrations largely stayed the same, but has eaten into diesels market share since November last year.  9% of all new van sales in November were electric, meaning just under one in ten new van registrations were for a fully electric model.

The new car market continued its recent resurgence in November, growing by 10% compared to the same month in 2021. Just under 21% of all new registrations were electric, an increase year-on-year, meaning one in five new registrations in November were for an electric car.

Asia is home to the country leading the global transition to electric vehicles (China). It is also home to several countries that are innovatively adapting their transitions to suit their own needs, and a few nations that have not even started their electrification of road transport.

In 1991, California implemented an innovative and ground breaking policy framework. Its ZEV Mandate was designed to accelerate the transition to electric transport.

It has recently been reported that the Chancellor’s pen is poised to strike out the exemption that EV owners currently enjoy from paying vehicle excise duty (aka VED, more commonly known as road tax). As always with tax regulations, this is more complicated than it sounds. There are a range of options available to the Chancellor as he implements this decision.

In comparison to some other jurisdictions, Latin America’s transition to electric transport is seriously lagging. However, it is not all gloomy news; the region is now seeing growth in EV take-up, with 2021 being the first year where serious numbers of new EV registrations were recorded.

After a boost in new van registrations in September, October was a return to gloomier times for the automotive industry. Despite this, the new electric van registrations remained strong - as they have for much of 2022. Electric vans market share doubled compared to October last year, whilst total sales volume also increased.

Despite being one of the lowest emitting regions in the world, the African continent has suffered some of the worst effects of the climate crisis thus far, largely in the form of extreme drought and famine. The global transition to EVs is vital to Africa.

The transition to electric transport is progressing at markedly different speeds across different countries. Australia and New Zealand are testament to this, and are at a very different stage in their journeys than places like Europe or the UK.

6.5 millions electric vehicles were sold globally in 2021, with EVs representing 9% of all new car sales during this period. Despite these respectable global sales figures, the global pace of the transition to electric transport is uneven.