Car dealer Dicksons of Inverness on track to meet electric vehicle deadline
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AN Inverness car dealer is leading the way in the drive towards all-electric new vehicles as demand starts to soar ahead of the 2030 deadline.
Dicksons of Inverness now ensures all its employees are fully-trained electric specialists as the company anticipates greater public demand over the next few years for electric vehicles (EVs).
The company reports that about 20 per cent of its Kia and MG car sales are now electric with predictions that this will double in the near future. By comparison, in the UK as a whole, just over 10 per cent of new car sales are electric.
Dicksons of Inverness sales director Jim MacKenzie said: “We are currently selling around 800 new cars a year across all franchises.
“Kia and MG lead the way in all-electric vehicles with around 20 per cent of sales being all-electric now. Suzuki are now all hybrid with no all-electric in the range yet and Nissan have Leaf and Ariya models offering all-electric but selling in smaller numbers.
“I think that the all-electric side of the business will grow rapidly to over 40 per cent of Kia and MG Sales with Nissan increasing slowly over the course of the next five years. Suzuki will introduce electric, but this is still a bit down the line.”
The government aims to outlaw the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles after 2030 – and hybrids from 2035 – as part of its “green industrial revolution” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality.
The Scottish Government, meanwhile, has a £60 million plan to ensure there are 30,000 plug-in points across the country by 2030.
In Scotland, at the moment there are more electric vehicles per head than the rest of the UK and there are more than 2600 plug-in points.
Mr MacKenzie, a veteran of the motor trade who has worked at Dicksons of Inverness for 25 years, said he also anticipated costs would drop – something that has dissuaded some potential buyers of electric vehicles.
He said: “The starting point for electric is the MG 5 EV which starts at £29,698, but I can see as more cars are introduced to the ranges, this starting point will drop to mid-£20,000. This is no more than the average family car with a combustion engine.”
An increasing numbers of EV owners are also now fitting home chargers and benefitting from off-peak electricity, and across the Highlands a greater number of charge points are appearing on an almost weekly basis. The Scottish Government predicts there will be between 500,000 and one million EVs on our roads by 2030.
