Why the public isn’t buying electric cars

Electric vehicles make up just under 16 per cent of the global market.

In the UK , the figure stands only slightly higher, at 18 per cent .

Sales figures bear this out. Private motorists bought just 24 per cent of the new EVs registered in the first half of 2023 .

The message could hardly be clearer: unless heavily discounted, few are prepared to buy electric cars.

Too many in the automotive fourth estate are willing to endorse EVs professionally while shunning the cars themselves when it comes to their own cash.

A mixture of novelty, chunky government bungs and emphatic rhetoric have led the growth of EV sales until now .

But the techies have already made the switch, retail incentives have been scrapped, and the messaging has lost efficacy.