Drivers ditch electric cars in droves to return to petrol vehicles due to lack of charging stations

DRIVERS appear to be ditching electric cars in droves in favour of traditional petrol cars.

Electric car owners have expressed their frustration with lengthy queues and the lack of new chargers being installed across the UK.

There has been a spike in new cars being purchased - driven mostly by petrol car sales rather than EVs.

There can be eighteen-month waits after ordering new electric vehicles..

New statistics released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed new car registrations saw a significant boost this January compared to the same time last year.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the trade body, said: "The automotive industry is already delivering growth that bucks the national trend."

According to the data 131,994 new cars were registered in January this year, a 14.5 per cent (16,907 total) rise from last January's figure of 115,087.

While still lower than the pre-covid January 2020 figure of 149,279 this does show the industry is making a recovery.

Petrol cars saw the largest growth in new car registrations compared with last year, with 58,973 being registered this January compared to 51,468 at the same time last year - a rise of 7,505.

But new battery electric vehicles saw a smaller growth in new car registrations compared to last January rising by 2,861 from 14,433  last year to 17,294 this year.

It was revealed last month that just 806 new chargers were being installed in the UK, placing the country's electric car infrastructure at 'crisis point'.

This figure needs to almost quadruple to 3,130 installations a month to meet the Government's target of having 300,00 devices nationwide by 2030 - the date when the UK will ban new petrol and diesel cars.

There are only 37,055 charging points in the UK as of January this year.

In the final quarter of last year, just one public chargepoint was installed per 62 plug-in cars, a fall from 1:42 compared to the same quarter in 2021.

Overall in 2022, just one standard public charger was built for every 53 new plug-ins registered, the weakest ratio since 2020.

According to the latest figures, there is only around one public electric charging point per 30 plug-in vehicles.

This includes the 680,994 battery electric vehicles and 458,875 plug-in hybrids.

Tesla drivers across the UK blasted the lack of charging points, after many were left backed up in three-hour queues over the Christmas period.

Queuing cars were spotted up and down the country in Hertfordshire, Cumbria, Westmorland and Telford.

Around 24 Tesla owners had to wait around an hour to charge their cars in a Waitrose car park in the village of South Mimms, Hertfordshire, on Christmas day.

The Tebay Southbound supercharger in Cumbria, by the M6 Junction, was also seeing a high volume of vehicles attempting to charge on December 27.

SMMT boss Mr Hawes shone a positive light, saying that the car industry is "poised, with the right framework, to accelerate the decarbonisation of the UK economy".

He added: "The industry and market are in transition, but fragile due to a challenging economic outlook, rising living costs and consumer anxiety over new technology."

The trade body said the government should use the forthcoming budget to support the transition to electric cars, by reducing VAT on charger use from 20 per cent to 5 per cent.

"We look to a Budget that will reaffirm the commitment to net zero and provide measures that drive green growth for the sector and the nation."