Britain’s Electric Vehicle Market Is Booming as Fuel Prices Climb
CityAM.com is the online presence of City A.M., London's first free daily business newspaper. Both platforms cover financial and business news as well as sport and… Brits are racing to get their hands on electric vehicles after a surge in oil prices triggered by the war in Iran has driven away demand for petrol and diesel cars, one of the UK’s biggest used car supermarkets has said.
London-listed Motorpoint, which has seen its shares jump on the back of bumper profits, said it had seen a more than doubling of sales for EVs in recent months in a “watershed moment” for the future of the car industry.
Motorpoint chief executive Mark Carpenter toldCity AM: “EVs are probably one of the stories of the moment, especially given what has gone on in Iran.
When that oil price shock started, we saw a big lift in EV volumes.
“We’ve seen a lot of people switching from petrol and diesel – frankly, we can’t keep up with demand on EVs, so we’re having to buy very heavily to meet demand.
“[Oil price volatility] has broken the back of the EV reluctance in the UK market.
Sometimes it takes something to push people over the tipping point, and I think the oil price crisis that we see now is definitely one of those moments: a watershed moment for people moving into EVs.” ACity AManalysisfound soaring demand for new Chinese vehicles had been a central driver in the UK’s embrace of EVs, with sales of BYDs overtaking Land Rovers and MG sales overtaking Mercedes.
The Jaecoo 7 was the UK’s best-selling car in the month of March.
“We do do a lot of MGs… they’ve been around for many years, and they are much more mature in their fleet offering,” Carpenter said.
Motorpoint on Wednesdaypostedan 8.1 per cent jump in turnover in the year to end March to £1.3bn, while pre-tax profit almost doubled to £7.5m during the year.
The Derby-based business upped its final dividend by 20 per cent to 1.2p, as it doubled down on its expansion plans.
The firm intends to open nine new locations in the medium term, with the first of these in Leeds due to open its doors later in the summer.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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