There were just 18 new electric vehicles registered in Caerphilly County Borough in 12 months, according to latest UK Government statistics.
Electric car technology is advancing all the time yet the latest figures suggest that motorists are not on board the green vehicle revolution.
Despite manufacturers lowering prices and increasing the range of their cars,over the 12 months up to September 2017 there were only 18 new electric vehicles registered in the area.
That’s far below the 2,824 in Peterborough, which had the highest increase of plug-in vehicles of any local authority in the United Kingdom.
The figures come from recently released Department for Transport data,which shows the number of registered electric or plug-in hybrid cars, vans and quadricycles in Caerphilly County Borough over the four quarters of the year.
From July to September 2016 there were 64 electric vehicles.
By September last year there were 82.
This is low compared with the rest of the UK, and goes against the increased accessibility and practicality of electric cars in recent years.
The latest Nissan Leaf,the United Kingdom’s most popular entirely electric car, can now travel 235 miles before it needs to be recharged,80 miles more than the previous version.
Last month BP announced it would follow Shell and install charging points at its petrol stations and Dyson has also said it plans to release an electric car by 2020.
One advantage electric car users have over other vehicles is that they do not have to pay road tax, as they do not release any emissions.
Electricity is also far cheaper than petrol and diesel, and green drivers have the satisfaction of helping save the planet.
Unsurprisingly plug-in vehicles still make up a tiny percentage of the cars on the road in the county borough.
Compared with the 82 electric cars on our roads,there are 95,178 petrol or diesel cars and vans,according to the latest complete vehicle registration data from 2016.
There is no where in Caerphilly to charge unless you have a drive way to charge at home. As usual CCBC are slow on the uptake and behind the rest of the country in a push towards electrification.
For once I agree with the council on this issue, we cant go jumping in feet first on this issue. Electic cars are still in the infancy, also like mobile phones different cars have different charging leads all competeing against one another. We need more research into this, imagine if the council spends millions of tax payers money on the wrong system, people would be up in arms. Another thing is a car now takes 45minutes to charge very unpracticale for todays i want everything now society. I think until all the bugs have been ironed out lets wait and see. I would love an electric car but the affordable cars out there are not up to scratch. So lets have more research first
There really is no wrong system, most charging stations have two or three different connectors and if one lead wins out then all that has to be done is change the connectors and some minor electrical work. You would not have to rip up the charging station to just modify it so I think the council should get behind what is inevitably the future of transportation.
Quite right Edward, we are not there yet in terms of useable technology in Caerffili. If we were there would be a lot of electric cars on our streets. People are sticking with diesel and petrol, not because they are anti electric, but because they need a vehicle that works.
Absolutely agree with you.
Electric vehicles are unsuitable for this borough, where most people live in terraced houses and park on the street. Also, although they produce less local pollution, electricity for electric cars is produced at power stations. In 2016 40% was from gas, which is a fossil fuel. Another 20% is from nuclear, which produces radioactive waste that will be a health hazard for thousands of years. The battery used in electric cars has a much shorter life than an internal combustion engine and ends up as hazardous waste.
The answer to local pollution is to provide a reliable public transport system that operates from early morning to early the following morning and is cheap to use. That will require long term planning and major investment. This is something that our government is not very good at providing, do not expect improvement any time soon..
Either that or we need to demolish nearly all the housing in the County and rebuild housing with wide, secure driveways etc. That would require a lot of new building space.
That is the nub of the problem. There is not the building space available but there are too many people. Nothing can be done about the former but a falling population is desirable and achievable. More space for those yet unborn to live, more job chances and a better environment for everone.
If the proposed Council mergers become a reality and Caerphilly merge with Newport Borough Council maybe we will see change ? though I doubt it very much !
It might make the leaders of Caerphilly council more accountable though – as it will not be so easy for them to get their own way.
Be careful for what you wish for, a merge with Newport would not be progress any more than the transfer of our health, police and courts to Gwent has worked out well.
I would like to see a return to the old Glamorgan County Council with Caerffili having a proper urban district council working below it. This is what we had prior to 1974 and, by and large, it worked.
It’s funny you should say that – I know people who worked for Mid Glamorgan County Council and then moved to Caerphilly County Borough Council and they all say that Mid Glamorgan County Council was more effective in their opinion.
I remember well the old Gelligaer Urban District Council – and that was definitely effective and efficient.
Time to go back to basics then !
Electricity from wind, biomass, solar and hydro is nearly producing a third of power at times and will only keep growing. The battery on the new Nissan Leaf is covered for eight years or 100,000 miles and can last longer and end of life batteries are being re-purposed for grid storage. Although only around 5% of lithium batteries are being recycled I expect that percentage to grow over the next decade so I do see electric cars being part of the solution and i must agree with you on terraced houses being a problem but even that can be overcome with overnight charging posts at kerbsides and charging at workplaces.
I agree that electric cars are part of the solution and will help in city environments and that renewables, quite rightly, will make up more of our generation capacity in future. Unfortuneately we ae going to require a massive increase in capacity if electric cars replace oil fueled ones. Also at 100,000 miles a well maintained diesel has got a lot of life left, the battery technology is simply not there yet.
Regarding biomass my understanding is that a lot of the generation we currently do in Britain is dependent on shipping the fuel, often wood chip, from America. Not ‘green’ in my book.
Kerbside charging units, unfortunately, will not be left alone in Caerffili. In my area thieves rip the earth straps from houses to sell as scrap metal. The cables from kerb side power sources would go the same way.
Currently a new Nissan leaf starts at a whopping £26’490 and is one of the worst depreciating cars you can buy in the UK today, after three years you’d be lucky to get £6000 for it, a loss of over £20’000 or roughly £81 per month, fairly shocking statistics really. Yes electric cars are the future but at the moment they are mainly a toy for the rich who own them to be in vogue and appear like they give a toss about the environment but have a Range Rover for any real journeys.
Some very pertinent points there Paul.
Here’s whats wrong with what you just said, Nissan leaf is £21,990 after the government grant and a bottom of the range ford focus is a whopping £19,915, the Nissan leaf has far more tech than the ford focus so pound for pound is better value. Most people have a 3 year lease on cars so second hand values don’t matter and try buying a 3 year old leaf for £6000, I bet you can’t.
Part Ex on a 2015 Nissan Leaf Visia with average mileage around £6600 – original list price £26’490. According to a reputable well know used car price guide.
There is a 2014 Nissan Leaf for sale in Swansea for £4500, no not 3 years old but no far off it.
You can keep your Nissan Leaf, does it come with a seven year warranty and has been voted one of the most reliable cars money can buy, no thought not, mine has and it was half the price of a Nissan Leaf.
Next time you want a race to Glasgow let me know, I’ll give you an hour head start and I’ll still get there before you.
Yes electric cars are most definitely and undoubtedly the future, at the moment they’re something for rich stay at home mum’s to pop along to Waitrose in.
Like I said most cars are bought on PCP so it doesn’t matter about resale if you can walk away after 3 years and you get £4500 of the list price
I have never based my car choice on how fast I can get to Glasgow, maybe I have been basing my car choices all wrong.
Currently there are many pros and cons for electric cars, they produce zero exhaust emissions but what about the environmental damage caused by the mining of precious metals needed for the manufacture of the batteries. Their range is poor but this will increase with advancements in technology.
Our choice of car is down to our personal preferences, and what we can afford. I choose a reliable vehicle which is relatively cheap to run, has a long warranty and reasonably decent resale value.
The way we buy a car is also our personal preference, PCP deals have mileage restrictions and MR Cars Salesman will always quote an optimistic guaranteed future value. I dare say just like great PPI swindle a similar thing will be happening with PCP deals, with consumers claiming compensation because they were talked in a PCP deal for a car that they could not afford.
The only thing I know is that I wish I’d have brought shares in Tesla back in 2010 when there were about £25.