Like it or not, the EV is here to stay. Unless you live in most unusual circumstances, there’s less than ever preventing you from joining the world of EV owners – a world where everyone is smiling, the croissants are fresh and the sky blue, if you believe the manufacturers’ promotional material.

The path to a fully electric future will, in reality, remain lumpy; the obstacles are many and various. But the knowledge that a sizeable market has been established brings even more investment, which will benefit the consumer. Battery prices are fast coming down, the charging infrastructure is growing, and more electricity is being generated renewably – a fact that will (eventually) lower the cost of recharging.

Meanwhile the used EV market here in the UK is stabilising as cheaper models filter through. The more plentiful they are, the more confident independent garages become in servicing them and the better insurers understand how to price their risk.

China remains the global engine of EV growth with just under eight million sales of pure electric vehicles in 2024, including exports, according to figures from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM). Including plug-in hybrids, sales hit almost 13 million, up 35 per cent on the year before, of which 1.3 million were exported.

The US is very much the global laggard on EVs of the big three markets, but even that country saw record sales in 2024 of 1.3 million, up 7.3 per cent, according to figures from Cox Automotive. Tesla remains the dominant force there for electric cars but Hyundai, Honda and GM all closed the gap in the year. Cox expects US EV sales to hit 10 per cent of the country’s total vehicle sales this year, up from 8.1 per cent, which will be flying in the face of president Donald Trump’s professed hatred of any vehicle not burning derivatives of American oil.

European sales, meanwhile, lost steam in 2024, falling 1.4 per cent to 1.8 million through November, according to the most recent figures from European automotive lobby group ACEA.

However, much of that was due to the December 2023 axing of incentives in Europe’s biggest market, Germany, which allowed the UK to become the region’s biggest EV market for the year at 381,970, up 21 per cent.

Europe’s sales are expected surge again soon as the biggest engine of EV growth – regulation – kicks up a gear and the European Union forces car makers to lower their average CO2 by 15 per cent.

Car makers across the region have been prepping for that landmark regulation change in their development cycles and 2025 will be the year in which we finally have a choice of affordable EVs, including the £21,990 Citroën e-C3, the £14,995 Dacia Spring, the Leapmotor T03 from £15,995, the Hyundai Inster at £23,495 and the Vauxhall Frontera from £23,495. 

These entry-level models will bring EV ownership to people previously out of reach. For example last year fewer than a quarter of the electric cars sold in the UK went to private customers. That’s expected to change this year as regular punters can choose between models costing similar prices to combustion-engine equivalents.

The achingly slow uptake in southern and eastern Europe should also quicken, especially in key small-car markets like Italy with the launch of the Fiat Grande Panda, built on the same low-cost EV platform as the Citroën e-C3 and costing from €24,990.

However, it’s interesting to note that the Portuguese EV market share at 19 per cent is already usefully above the average EU share of 13 per cent. Buyers there are making the switch to take advantage of the country’s cheaper energy, generated by wind and water, despite their reduced purchasing power compared to more affluent buyers in the northern European markets that lead on EV market share, with Norway at 90 per cent and Denmark at 50 per cent.

Renewable energy is the key to driving the EV market forward as it both unlocks cheaper charging and makes a direct difference to carbon reduction, instead merely pushing the problem upstream. Globally renewable energy share is forecast to grow from 30 per cent in 2023 to 46 per cent in 2030 according to estimates from the International Energy Agency, with the majority of growth coming from wind and solar.

EVs can also play a part in balancing the grid by feeding back power at peak times if built with the right tech, reducing need for gas- or coal-powered ‘peaker plants’ (power stations that only run when demand is particularly high). Renault and Nissan think they can simultaneously harness this need and cut customer charging bills for those with driveway charging, with the new Renault 5 the first to offer the bi-directional charging needed to achieve this.

Those without home charging and forced to rely on commercial chargepoints will have found that the network is growing broadly in line with EV sales. In the UK last year 19,834 charge points were added to the public network, a rise of 19 per cent from 2023 to take the total to 73,699 with 108,410 connectors, according to Zapmap. Most are lower-powered chargers more suited for overnight top-ups, led by Ubitricity, now under the wing of Shell, with its network of chargers built into lamp posts.

A broader network of rapid and ultra-rapid chargers are more useful for those with longer journeys, and those too are multiplying in the UK, from 3871 at the end of 2020 to 14,471 by the end of 2024. Instavolt leads on pure numbers here with 1801 installed, followed by Tesla.

High battery prices have been the biggest drag on sales as customers and car makers alike question the case for replacing a cheap combustion engine with an expensive battery pack. However, that price is coming down after a vicious spike during the Covid pandemic. Last year battery prices saw their biggest annual drop at 20 per cent from 2023 prices, down to $114 per kilowatt hour at the end of the year according to research from BloombergNEF. Cell makers building too much capacity is one reason, but economies of scale as well as lower metal prices play into the reduction. In China that figure is $94 per kWh, says Bloomberg.

The price trajectory remains downward, according to the bank Goldman Sachs, with $80/kWh predicted for 2026. It’s being driven by better energy density, lower cost and a bigger swing to cheaper iron-based LFP chemistry with its less exotic materials, the bank says.

Used EV prices spiked during the Covid pandemic then collapsed. That spooked the automotive industry big time, but there are signs now that pricing is normalising. In 2024 EV prices ‘behaved in line with the market’ used-car specialist Auto Trader said in its December report. As the first major wave of EVs came onto the used market last year, it created a sturdy floor of demand among those looking for deals, stabilising a previously volatile segment.

Once the price is right, customers have proven willing to make the jump, and are pleased to find that the technology hands them an ordinary hatchback or SUV with the drivetrain smoothness of a Rolls-Royce. Charging is still the most likely entry point for grit in the experience, and that aspect remains Tesla’s most seductive siren call for new buyers switching over.

However, the sheer volume of new owners should force charger operators, as well as the entire EV ecosystem, to up their game. When customers start to number in the millions rather than the thousands, weakness and incompetence are pretty quickly rooted out in a competitive field.