Half of car buyers won't switch to electric, even with government grants

It's more bad news for the UK’s transition to electric cars after a survey by the UK’s automotive industry trade body found that almost half of prospective new-car buyers would refuse to make the switch, even if the government offered a financial incentive to try and tempt them.

The start to 2025, at first glance, appeared positive in terms of consumer sentiment towards EVs, with electric cars accounting for roughly 23 per cent of new car sales in the first couple of months – up from 15.8 per cent the year before. However, this apparent acceleration of interest may be a bit of a red herring, because a survey by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders found that this isn’t expected to grow much further, with only 23 per cent of prospective new-car buyers saying they would consider choosing an electric car before 2028.

Furthermore, of those that said they would not choose an electric car, three in five (equal to just under half of total respondents) said they still wouldn’t opt to go electric, even if the government brought back some kind of financial incentive along the lines of the EV plug-in grant, which was discontinued in 2022. It’s also worth pointing out that nearly one-in-two (48.7 per cent) of those who originally said they would buy a new electric car already own an EV, meaning future sales could largely be driven by existing EV adopters, rather than new converts.

The SMMT, as well as the car industry it represents, firmly believes government incentives could be the key to turbocharging sales, which have largely been artificially stimulated thus far by what the trade body describes as “unsustainable” discounts by manufacturers; in 2024, car makers spent £4.5 billion discounting EVs in order to secure sales and thus meet the UK’s tough ZEV mandate targets. This, SMMT CEO Mike Hawes was keen to point out, “is the equivalent of a third of the UK’s overseas aid budget, before it was cut. Let that sink in.”

As a result, the SMMT is calling for cuts in VAT on the purchases of new electric cars – something the trade body believes could generate 250,000 more EV sales per year – as well as on public EV charging, which currently is responsible for a huge price disparity between charging at home and away.

EVs are also due to become liable for Vehicle Excise Duty (also known as road tax) next month. Hawes noted that while he does not necessarily oppose such a move, given what he described as “the obvious constraints on the public purse”, he did call for a rise in the threshold for models to fall under the umbrella of the so-called “expensive car supplement”, which currently sits at £410, on top of the £195 annual VED.

Speaking at the SMMT’s Electrified conference in Westminster, Hawes said “as a minimum, we should be raising the luxury car threshold to [models over] £60,000” – a sentiment that received backing from Kia’s UK CEO, Paul Philpott.

In the next couple of months, the government is set to announce the outcome of its review into the ZEV mandate, which could relieve the pressure on manufacturers to sell electric cars to what appears to be an as-yet relatively uninterested market.

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