Best cities to own an electric vehicle in the UK revealed

Sunderland has been ranked as the best city to own an electric vehicle in the UK, according to new research from Forbes Advisor.

With nearly 750,000 new EVs registered in 2021, personal finance guidance and comparison website Forbes Advisor, used data from 20 of the most populated cities in the UK and ranked each city based on four EV metrics: cost of charging an EV at home, number of standard and rapid EV charging points per 100,000 people, and the number of rapid charging points per registered EV in the area.

Based on this data, each location was assigned an ‘EV Accessibility Rating’ out of 80, with Sunderland coming out on top, scoring 69, and Portsmouth ranking lowest with a score of 23. London scored 49.

Kevin Pratt, car insurance expert at Forbes Advisor, said: “Sales of electric cars are booming, and we can expect to see more EVs on the road as we approach the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel-powered vehicles. But that means we need to see acceleration in the number and distribution of charging points so that drivers can enjoy easy access to the power they need. It’s good to see cities across the UK getting to grips with the issue.

“When it comes to insurance, drivers switching to an electric car should hopefully not experience too much of a shock. The cost will largely be driven by the value of the car and the owner’s circumstances and driving history. The high cost of replacement parts and the scarcity of mechanics trained to work on EVs has been an issue, but as the UK fleet gradually transitions to hybrids and electrics and then to electrics alone, price differentials should narrow and disappear.”

The 10 best cities to own an EV, with their ‘EV Accessibility Rating’ are:

Sunderland – 69

Coventry – 68

Newcastle – 63

Leeds – 55

Middlesbrough – 54

Sheffield – 50

London – 49

Reading – 47

Brighton – 41

Cardiff – 41