Steve Nash, the former CEO of the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI), said volatile global fuel markets and the spike in pump prices caused by the war in the Middle East could see more drivers switch to electric ahead of the UK's 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

Steve Nash, former CEO of the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) (Image: Supplied)

The former BMW Group director, who spent over 26 years at the car manufacturer and lives in Reepham, said Norfolk does not yet have the level of charging infrastructure needed to support the transition to electric - particularly in the most rural areas of the county.

There are currently 1,473 public EV charging points across Norfolk.

Compared to other counties in the UK, Norfolk sits around mid-table for access to public chargers. This means it is better supplied than many rural shires, but far behind large urban areas in London, the South East and West Midlands.

Norfolk County Council said the county currently leads East Anglia for both the total number of public chargers and the number per 100,000 of the population.

The East of England has 9,880 public EV chargers. Greater London has 30,912, followed by the South East with 15,383 (Image: Zapmap)

"We're quite significantly beyond the early adopter phase now with EVs," Mr Nash said.

"But there remains a lack of charging points and accessibility for an awful lot of people in Norfolk, with a significant number of people who don't have off-street parking.

"It's about people having the confidence to know that if they buy an electric car they will be able to charge it."

Earlier this month, the government introduced grants worth up to £500 for renters, flat owners, homeowners without driveways and businesses looking to install EV charging points. Schools are also eligible for grants of up to £2,000 per socket.

No new pure petrol or diesel cars and vans will be sold in the UK from 2030 under the government's zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate (Image: PA)

At the end of March, there were 119,080 public EV chargers across the UK, according to the Zapmap database.

By the end of last year, there were 116,052 public chargers - up 13pc on the 102,771 at the end of 2024.

Norfolk County Council said it has been allocated a multimillion-pound grant which it aims to use to install more than 2,000 additional charging stations in "areas most of need" over the next couple of years.

Total and 50kW and above (rapid or above) public EV chargers per 100,000 of the resident population, by country and region (Image: Zapmap)

A record 473,300 electric cars were sold in the UK last year, with almost one in every four new cars sold being electric models.

This March was also a record month for EV registrations in the UK, with 86,120 new battery‑electric cars being registered - an increase of 24.2pc on the same month last year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

There are currently 1,473 public EV charging points across Norfolk (Image: Denise Bradley)

Electric cars accounted for 22.4pc of all sales in the first three months of the year. However, this market share is significantly short of the 33pc target set in the government’s zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate.

Since it was introduced in 2024, the ZEV target has yet to be hit. Last year's 24pc market share saw car manufacturers miss the sales goal by 92,000 vehicles.

The target was set at 28pc in 2025, rising to 33pc this year.

UK new car registrations in March, 2010 to 2026 (Image: SMMT)

Under the government's ZEV mandate, no new pure petrol or diesel cars and vans will be sold in the UK from 2030, with thousands more EVs expected on Norfolk's roads.

"We're steadily chipping away at the range anxiety and other issues, like charging time," Mr Nash said.

"Even EV prices are creeping towards parity with internal combustion engine [petrol and diesel] cars."

Mr Nash said volatile fuel prices, which are exposed to fluctuation during global conflicts like the war in Iran, could give drivers an "extra shove" towards electric cars.

The influx of relatively cheap yet reliable Chinese-made EVs in the UK market could also increase uptake.

Chinese manufacturer BYD overtook Elon Musk's Tesla as the world's biggest seller of EVs last year (Image: Rob Borrett)

"China is the engine of the automotive industry now," Mr Nash said. "If you want to know where the industry is going, you need to look at what the Chinese are doing because they're in the driving seat.

"In my long time with BMW, if you were to go back to the turn of the century, China was an El Dorado.

"Everybody was piling into China because the market was opening up, but the deal was you had to partner with a local company.

"I think we're now in a situation where the apprentice has become the master, where the Western car companies are now partnering with them to learn from them, rather than the other way around."

Steve Nash, former CEO of the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) (Image: Cam Harle)

He said China has a "monumental price advantage" because of its control of nearly all of the key raw materials needed to manufacture EVs.

"They can produce cars massively cheaper," he said. "Everybody else is having to buy not just their batteries but the rare earths you need in electric motors from China.

"There are currently 152 brands being sold in the Chinese market. They have reached market saturation, so they have got to find outlets outside of China, and at the moment the UK is one of the least restricted markets.

"A couple of years ago, there were 45 brands on sale in the UK. It's now over 70, and that's pretty much all Chinese brands."

Busseys holds the Norfolk franchise of the Chinese brand BYD (Image: Supplied)

Chinese manufacturer BYD overtook Elon Musk's Tesla as the world's biggest seller of EVs last year.

BYD's global EV sales rose by almost 28pc to more than 2.25 million, surpassing Tesla's 1.64 million, which fell by nearly 9pc - dropping for a second consecutive year.

Chinese car brands accounted for almost one in ten (9.7pc) of all new cars registered in the UK last year.

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