Hardly an electric car in sight: The areas with the slowest adoption of plug-in vehicles

Some parts of the UK are at risk of being left behind in the transition to electric cars – and not all of them are remote areas of the country, new research shows.

Scottish islands and parts of Northern Ireland dominate the list of the 10 places with the slowest adoption of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid cars over the past five years.

However, the tourist centre of Blackpool and one of the largest industrial centres in the south-east of England, Milton Keynes, also appear in the ranking.

Analysing DVLA and DfT figures for all types of plug-in vehicles over the past five years, Carwow compared the number of private plug-in vehicles and battery electric vehicles in each county/district and unitary authority from Q4 2018 to Q4 2023.

Orkney has seen just a 133 per cent increase in the number of plug-in vehicles over the past five years, making it the worst place in the UK for EV growth.

Blackpool, one of the UK’s most popular tourist towns (with more than 20 million visitors each year), saw an increase of just 303 per cent, putting it in second place.

The rest of the top five places with the lowest growth in electric cars are all remote areas in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Shetland has the third slowest adoption of plug-in vehicles, recording just 357 per cent growth over the past five years.

Fourth and fifth place went to areas in Northern Ireland: Antrim and Newtownabbey (404 per cent) and Causeway Coast and Glens (416 per cent) respectively.

Both areas have populations of around 150,000 and are situated at the highest point in Northern Ireland.

Remote areas may be lagging behind, but other parts of Scotland are experiencing exceptional growth – the list of places experiencing the highest growth in plug-in vehicles is dominated by Scottish regions.

Falkirk (941 per cent), Glasgow City (919 per cent) and East Dunbartonshire (873 per cent) all make up the top 10.

Stockton-on-Tees in the north-east of England has seen the biggest growth overall, where there has been an almost 988 per cent increase in plug-in vehicles over the past five years.

Gloucestershire did not fare well, recording a 422 per cent growth in plug-in vehicles, putting it sixth on the list of areas with the lowest EV growth.

Mid and East Antrim and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon ​​ranked seventh and tenth, with scores of 423 and 455 per cent respectively. This means that four of the 10 places in the UK with the slowest growth in plug-in vehicles are in Northern Ireland.

Milton Keynes and Dundee completed the top 10 in eighth and ninth place, despite Dundee being one of the leading UK locations for charger availability. This is likely explained by the fact that they already had high EV numbers to begin with, so there has been minimal growth since late 2018.

EV growth in Scotland is slow, but the country has the best public charging network

Despite Scotland dominating the list of places with the slowest adoption of plug-in electric vehicles, it is the part of the country where drivers have the best access to public charging.

Scotland leads the way in device availability, with the city of Dundee having the best plug-in vehicle-to-charger ratio in the UK – one for every 16 vehicles (1:16).

Five regions across the country made the top 10 overall, including the Highlands (1:18), West Dunbartonshire (1:21) and North Lanarkshire (1:24).

And in a clear demonstration that even remote areas can have plenty of accessible public fast-charging points, only one Scottish area makes the bottom 10 for charger availability: East Dunbartonshire.

In East Dunbartonshire there is only one charger for every 525 plug-in vehicles.

Only the Bracknel Forest region is worse off, with one public rapid charger for every 619 vehicles.

Iain Reid, Carwow’s editorial head, said: ‘Clearly, if the UK is to be prepared for the 2035 ban, the government needs to work to make electric vehicles more accessible to wider parts of the country.

“Subsidies for the purchase of electric vehicles and chargers, along with accelerated installation of public fast chargers in more remote areas, would be a huge positive step. Otherwise, many places will continue to be left behind, ultimately making mass adoption unattainable.”