News Published on : 10-Jan-2022 15:51:16

December s car sales list capped off an astonishing year for electric cars. With 9 612 Tesla Model 3s leaving showrooms before Christmas the hyper-popular American EV outsold the second-place Mini by almost 5000 units making it the best-selling car of the month for the third time last year. It s a far cry from the start of the electric car revolution. Back in 2011 the best-selling electric car in the UK was the Nissan Leaf which sold just 635 units in the entire year. In contrast nearly 191 000 pure electric cars were sold in the UK in 2021 giving the segment nearly 12% of the market vs. just 8% for Diesel. Some analysts are concerned that the growth of rapid charging infrastructure is struggling to keep pace. According to data from ZapMap the UKs most-used recharging app charging infrastructure grew by nearly a third last year while sales of EVs were up 70%. In June energy firm Gridserve bought the ageing Electric Highway network from Ecotricity and began an extensive replacement and expansion project with chargers capable of filling some EVs to 80% in as little as 18 minutes. It s hoped that hub of chargers like these will become commonplace in the next few years and new electric forecourts are currently under construction in Norwich and at Gatwick airport.