As fuel prices rise sharply across the UK, searches for electric vehicles (EVs) have increased by 37% in the past week alone according to online car buying and selling site carwow.
Compared to this week last year, overall EV searches on carwow’s site are up 150%, while configured searches - where buyers are considering a specific make and model of EV - are up 51%.
The average price of a litre of petrol in the UK is currently around £1.60 a litre - more than 30p (24%) more than it was a year ago, meaning motorists are paying £76.47 to fill a 50-litre tank – that's £4 more than at the end of January, and £15 more than in March 2021.
A litre of petrol has hit £2 in parts of the country, meaning some people are now paying almost £100 for a 50-litre tank of fuel - that’s £22.98 more than the average motorist, and a £42 more than those paying the lowest prices in the UK (114.9p).
As oil prices continue to increase the cost of fuel is predicted to follow suit, with carwow data indicating UK motorists are responding to this by looking at alternatives.
Hugo Griffiths, features editor at carwow said: “Petrol prices have been rising for some time now, but the last few weeks have seen some of the sharpest rises in years. A year ago, it cost around £60 to fill a 50-litre tank - today, it is more than £75, with drivers of large SUVs, and other cars with high-capacity fuel tanks paying upwards of £129 to fill their cars in areas with the highest prices.
“Our data suggests this has had a direct impact on interest in electric vehicles, as motorists look to mitigate the impact rising petrol prices have on their household budgets. Two in three motorists tell us costs are a key consideration for them as they decide whether to go electric.”
Official data shows that one in six new car registrations in the UK in 2021 was an EV or plug-in hybrid vehicle, up from one in ten the previous year. This is thanks to a combination of factors including an increased choice of EV models in showrooms, lower purchase prices, increased battery ranges, and a rise in the number of charging points across the UK.
These factors, combined with government incentives to go electric and now crippling fuel prices, are simply accelerating the interest in EVs, with carwow’s recent search data showing a 150% rise compared to a year ago, and a 37% increase in searches on the website in the last week alone.
Hugo Griffiths adds: “The rising cost of filling-up, favourable tax regimes for electric cars and the fact cities are starting to put more restrictions on petrol and diesel cars have created a perfect storm whereby motorists who had planned to get an EV at some point in the future are looking at doing it sooner rather than later, while those who had perhaps not thought about an electric car at all are now seriously considering switching.
“This is backed by data which reveals that search volumes for EVs on our platform have risen considerably in just a week. This suggests that even if huge rises in petrol and diesel costs are a shorter-term issue, the impact they have on the UK car market could be more permanent.”
