The environmental benefit of electric cars may never be felt – with their production creating up to 70 per cent more emissions than their petrol equivalent.
Electric cars need to be used for tens of thousands of miles before they offset the higher releases, with VW’s e-Golf becoming more environmentally friendly only after 77,000 miles, according to the manufacturer’s own figures.
But there are fears that many such vehicles will never hit their mileage target as owners upgrade to newer models, leaving swathes of used electric cars sitting unwanted on garage forecourts.
The vast majority of car purchases in the UK are made using credit plans, which offer customers the chance to swap their car for a new vehicle after a three-year term, which is unlikely to be enough time to offset the emissions.
Personal Contract Purchases (PCP) boomed in popularity thanks to the rock-bottom interest rates of the past decade and allowed consumers to pay off their car in monthly instalments.
