March 29, 2026
Charge wars in the comments
The road to electric – in charts and data [UK]
UK EV charts ignite ‘old news’ cries and driveway drama
TLDR: RAC’s guide touts 1.4m EVs and a 2030 no‑new petrol goal, but commenters torched the charts as out of date and blind to street‑parking reality. The thread split between “EVs need driveways” and “they’re already everywhere,” with links to newer stats and parking data fueling the fight.
RAC’s glossy “road to electric” charts say the UK has about 1.4m battery-only cars (BEVs) and 777k plug‑in hybrids (PHEVs), with a big push toward no new petrol or diesel car sales by 2030. But the comments section? It lit up like a dashboard warning light. One camp cries “dated!” — rwmj says it “lacks 2025 data,” joking that EVs haven’t exactly “disappeared” in his stockbroker-filled suburb. Another digs into the page code and drops a one-word dunk — “(2024)” — while silvestrov shrugs, “The content is just very old,” and links to fresher Zapmap stats. Then the driveway wars begin. Bluescrn’s take hits a nerve: EVs are great—if you’ve got a garage or private drive—otherwise it’s “green tech for the rich.” Others counter with a RAC Foundation report noting “nearly half of London has off‑road parking,” triggering replies asking “which half?” and memes about extension cords snaking down terraced streets. RAC’s plug for its orange-van “EV Boost” rescue gets side-eye and jokes about “range anxiety AA meetings.” The vibe: the charts show momentum, but the crowd demands up-to-date numbers, real fixes for flat‑dwellers, and fewer victory laps — with extra points for receipts and timestamps.
Key Points
- •The UK plans to end sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030.
- •From 2024, manufacturers are mandated to sell an increasing share of electric-only models.
- •RAC provides a guide with charts to track EV adoption and charging availability in the UK.
- •RAC claims to be the first breakdown provider with a mobile EV charger system, EV Boost, to assist out-of-charge vehicles.
- •Estimated UK fleet includes about 1.4 million BEVs and around 777,000 PHEVs; the article explains BEV, PHEV, RE-EV, HEV, and MHEV categories.