Slow electric car uptake is due to poor choice and a lack of availability in showrooms, a new report by Transport & Environment (T&E) has found.
There are currently 20 battery electric vehicles available to buy in Europe compared to 417 conventional models run by diesel or petrol. According to the research, many of these battery run models are unavailable in showrooms.
The report also found that on average, across Germany, France, UK, Spain, Italy and Norway only 2.1 per cent of carmakers’ marketing budget was spent on zero-emission vehicles and 1.6 per cent on plug-in hybrid models. As well as this, sales of electric or zero-emission cars are around half the level predicted by carmakers.
“Most carmakers are failing to meet their own targets for electric vehicle sales because they are making little effort to do so,” said Julia Hildermeier, clean vehicles and e-mobility officer. “Instead they blame governments for a lack of incentives and recharging points.
“The reality is that if carmakers provided more choice, and marketed and sold the vehicles more aggressively, they could meet their own goals and clean up the emissions. European carmakers should put their money where their mouth is and start focusing on clean cars rather than resurrecting the market for obsolete dirty diesel cars.”
