Electric Car Popularity

If you’re thinking about ordering an electric vehicle as your next car, you’re not alone. With almost all major car brands planning a range of electric models for 2020, the amount of eco-friendly car sales will begin skyrocketing.

This means that electric car popularity will continue to rise as car brands start moving away from conventional engines for green technology, and experts believe that the national grid won’t be able to keep up with the power demands.

The problem lies with an increase in demand for electricity overnight as cars begin charging at the same time. In a similar way that electricity needs spike during TV adverts as people put the kettle on for a quick brew, there would also be a spike in energy requirements as people come home from work and plug in their EV.

Electric Car Popularity

Experts at the Green Alliance report that the solution is expensive upgrades to the UK’s electric infrastructure with a deadline of 2019 looming over the country as more electric cars become available at lower costs on the run up to 2020.

The report states that if a city with 7,000 residents had an uptake of EVs and 1,000 electric vehicles ended up on their driveways, that city would likely experience a brownout, meaning that the area would experience a reduction in electrical power.

“Actively governing the transition [of small scale energy deployment] can lead to good outcomes, with new sources of system flexibility, affordable costs and satisfied customers.”


Ultimately, power demand is only going to increase as electric car popularity surges. Power companies will face many challenges as demand increases for electric energy. One solution that Green Alliance foresees is a dynamic shift in who controls power distribution. They see a future where people buying power from big, distant power stations is replaced by consumers installing their own energy technologies such as solar power and battery storage.

Green Alliance say, “Within three years, the UK will reach a tipping point when government will lose the ability to control the speed of small scale energy deployment. Other countries’ experiences show that matching new technologies with old energy markets can be problematic. But actively governing the transition can lead to good outcomes, with new sources of system flexibility, affordable costs and satisfied customers.”

Electric Car Popularity
There is still time to prepare for this future, but the government needs to act fast and invest in new electric technologies in order to meet the demands of electric car popularity.