Huge jump in number of electric vehicles

The number of registered plug-in vehicles in West Sussex increased by 41 per cent from October 2017 to September 2018. There has been an increase in East Sussex as well, while Brighton and Hove has also seen a rise in registered plug-in vehicles.

The latest Department for Transport statistics show the number of registered electric or plug-in hybrid cars, vans and micro cars (called quadricycles) in West Sussex for each quarter of the year.

From July 2017 to September 2017 there were 1,233 electric vehicles. However by the latest quarter, from July to September 2018, that figure had grown to 1,742, a jump of 509. Back in 2013 there were just 100 electric cars in West Sussex, showing the progress the industry has made in a short time.

Over the past few years manufacturers have increased the range of their vehicles and prices have lowered, helping fuel the rise in environmentally friendly vehicles.

The latest Nissan Leaf, the UK’s most popular entirely electric car, can now travel 235 miles before it needs to be recharged, 80 miles more than the previous version.

Over the next year BP will install charging points at its petrol stations, following Shell’s roll out in 2017.

Plug-in vehicles still make up a tiny percentage of the cars on the road in West Sussex. Compared with the 1,742 electric cars on our roads, there are 511,177 cars and vans in total, according to the latest complete vehicle registration data from 2017.