Fuel shortage ‘will accelerate Britain’s switch to electric cars’

The recent fuel shortage has sparked massive interest in electric cars and could accelerate Britain’s switch to EVs, say experts.

EV-focused media platform Electrifying.com reports searches on its site were up 75 per cent over the weekend, while Google searches for the term ‘electric car’ were up 300 per cent in the same period.

The data indicates that Brits are considering electric vehicles as a viable alternative to internal combustion engines, with the charging infrastructure less reliant on external factors such as HGV driver numbers.

Although there are concerns for the future surrounding the National Grid’s ability to cope with a huge increase in EVs charging from home at peak hours, charge points can be scheduled to not come on when demand is high.

Furthermore, public charging infrastructure is increasing rapidly, with many service stations and even some petrol stations now having fast chargers. Last week an Electrifying.com report found Tesco was the leading supermarket for offering charge points at its stores.

Ginny Buckley, founder of Electrifying.com, said: “The fuel shortages we are seeing this week feels like a throwback to a previous era – there is no doubt the future is electric.

“It is only natural that even staunch advocates of petrol and diesel vehicles are probably considering making the switch to an electric car. Our website is certainly seeing a significant surge in interest.

“We hope the current fuel shortages aren’t too disruptive, and we sympathise with anyone who has been inconvenienced, but we believe this increased interest in electric cars will be around long after the queues have started to die down at the filling stations.”

The most popular car on the news site over the weekend was the new Kia EV6. However, there was particular focus on sub-£35,000 vehicles, as this is the threshold at which EVs are eligible for a government grant.