NEW: EV Sales Suffer Massive Drop-Off In 2023

A new analysis of the U.K. car market shows that consumers’ interest in electric vehicles has fallen sharply amid turbulent local economies, sticker shock, waning government rebates, and a dearth of charging ports.

The Daily Mail looked at EV purchases across the U.K., concluding that sales were down double digits in 2023 compared to the previous year. In total, 23 percent of all car sales in 2023 were EVs, representing 71,984 out of 314,687 vehicles sold that year. That’s a steep decline from the 33 percent in sales in 2022, when 88,910 EVs were sold.

Trouble on the car lot is a warning sign for manufacturers who are under increasingly stringent regulations from the government to electrify greater and greater percentages of their annual production. While the requirement for 2024 is only 22 percent of all cars produced, that number rises sharply to 80 percent by 2030.

Higher-than-average inflation, combined with the loss of EV incentives by the Department of Transport in 2022, have added up to a loss in consumer confidence in the market for electric vehicles. In addition, a study of the U.K.’s 43,000 charging ports found that number must be increased fivefold if the nation hopes to meet its 2030 goals.

The news is not much different across the pond, where enthusiasm among Americans for EVs is waning despite the introduction of flashy new vehicles like the Tesla Cybertruck and the Hummer EV. The White House is under pressure from both auto unions and manufacturers to curb the government’s regulations around EV production ahead of the November elections.

“Last year, there was a lot of hope and hype about EVs. Early adopters formed an initial line and were ready to buy these vehicles as soon as we had them to sell. But that enthusiasm has stalled. Today, the supply of unsold [battery electric vehicles] is surging, as they are not selling nearly as fast as they are arriving at our dealerships — even with deep price cuts, manufacturer incentives, and generous government incentives,” manufacturers wrote to President Joe Biden in December.

“While the goals of the regulations are admirable, they require consumer acceptance to become a reality. With each passing day, it becomes more apparent that this attempted electric vehicle mandate is unrealistic based on current and forecasted customer demand.”

An attempt by the Biden administration to tout the nation’s growth of charging ports took an ironic turn when one of his top transportation aides was caught cutting the line at a charging station due to the lack of ports.