The UK’s pledge to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 hinges on replacing millions of petrol and diesel vehicles with cleaner alternatives. But transitioning to electric transport isn’t just about manufacturing new cars, installing chargers and so on. It’s a gargantuan energy generation challenge that could push the power grid to its limits.
In 2023, UK transport consumed about 46 million litres of petrol and diesel. If we convert that into electricity, it would be equivalent to 49.5 gigawatts (GW) of continuous power throughout a whole year. For perspective, this is about one-third more than the UK’s entire current electricity generation capacity.
