In the world of electric vehicles 2022 could well be a watershed moment. Having only been involved in the world of EV over the last three months, I have learnt quite a bit and I am still learning, but it’s an exciting and interesting industry to be involved in. I also have my first EV on order which is due to arrive in the middle of this year and I am very excited to get it.
Two weeks into 2022 and I have made my predictions as to what will happen in 2022 and what needs to happen to make this industry even more appealing that it already is.
More cars more choice
This year will see a number of eagerly awaited new releases such as the Cupra Born, Kia EV6 and the Volvo C40 to name but a few. EV drivers that pre-ordered their vehicles towards the end of 2021 will also be excited to see their vehicle arrive this year. In 2022 more new ev and plug-in hybrids will be registered in the UK than new diesel and petrol vehicles, for the first time in history. The figures towards the backend of 2021 suggest this could quite be possible. In November and December 22,000 new electric vehicles were registered in the UK, during the same period in 2020 there were only 10,000 registered.
New legislation, chargepoints will be a requirement
In November last year, the government announced new legislation that will come into force in 2022. All new build projects including new homes and major refurbishment projects must ensure EV chargers are fitted as part of the works. This new legislation will contribute enormously to improving the ev charging infrastructure throughout England.
As well as new legislation there are rumours that new government grants will be announced in the first quarter of 2022 that will help towards installing charge points. The two current grants will continue to be available (The Workplace Charging Scheme and The Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme) however in March the EVHS is coming to an end.
More chargepoints becoming available
You don’t have to look far, on the web or on social media to see that there is a real concerted to improving this country’s charging infrastructure. Albeit some areas of the country are improving the infrastructure better and much quicker than other areas. Zap Map recently announced by the end of quarter one this year 30,000 chargepoints will be visible on their platform with around 40,000 to be available come the end of the year.
With the help of government grants and other incentives such as being able to see a ROI when charging a fee for drivers to use chargers, more are getting on board with installing chargepoints. Couple this with the fact that major players in the EV market are investing in charging hubs such as MFG investing £50m in 60 EV charging hubs and Shell announcing a deal to install chargepoints on their forecourts throughout the UK, things are starting to happen on the infrastructure front.
Fleet saving opportunities
As well as the obvious cost saving measures available to businesses through the Workplace Charging Scheme, more and more businesses are seeing the benefits to their employers who drive a company electric or plug-in hybrid car. Currently an electric car has a low benefit in kind (BiK) rate, currently 1% for the tax year 2021/22. This makes it highly tax efficient for an individual driving an EV company car.
Business owners can still claim their business mileage when using electric vehicles as there is a government-approved mileage allowance for EV drivers just as there would be for a petrol or diesel driver.
Both of these benefits/savings will only encourage businesses to change their fleet to EV and PHEV as they aren’t losing out any money that they would receive if the fleet was petrol or diesel. If anything, they have more to gain in terms of demonstrating an environmental commitment and demonstrating a commitment to employee satisfaction by providing a company vehicle with a low tax rate.
What needs to happen…
However, there are certain things that need to happen to encourage even more of a take up of EV’s. On the domestic front, and with the Homecharge Grant Scheme coming to an end in March, there needs to be something similar on offer for homeowners, which is highly unlikely. Alternatively, installation companies are going to need to consider the finance route to installing chargepoints, to ensure they continue to be affordable.
There needs to be an improvement in the EV second-hand market. This will happen in time as more and more new models are made available. But at the moment second-hand EV’s are significantly more expensive than a like for like new model. This is largely down to the semi-conductor shortage from the summer, but by the end of this year and into next, improvements will be noticeable in this market.
As much as second-hand EV’s need to drop in price so do new EV’s. Despite the government grant available, the cost of a new model is around the £30,000-40,000 mark, obviously there are some priced at less than that and some for more but generally they are around this mark. That being said this will put off a lot of people looking at purchasing a new EV. Again, time will most likely be the healer. It was with range anxiety, and this issue seems to have been addressed by car manufacturers that claim real life ranges on vehicles with 300 miles plus with a fully charged battery.
Summary
2022 could go down in history as being the year everything changed in the world of ev! With more grants becoming available, new legislation being introduced and more electric vehicle ranges becoming available this year will see a big push towards a future of motoring. Afterall the biggest barrier for most people getting an electric vehicle is the accessibility to charging it. The government, ev charge suppliers and installers are doing their best to ease that concern.