Britain’s electric vehicle revolution is being hampered by a “bottleneck” in global battery production, as demand far outstrips supply of zero-emission vehicles.
An investigation by the Press Association found that some dealers were telling customers they could be waiting more than a year if they placed an order for an EV today, with some manufacturers confirming they couldn’t guarantee the number of vehicles coming to the UK in the future.
Kia and Hyundai appear to be the worst affected, with the former’s e-Niro and latter’s Kona and Ioniq Electric experiencing 12-month-plus wait times.
Hyundai Kona Electric (Image: Hyundai)
Jaguar, Tesla, Nissan, Smart, Audi and Volkswagen are all also experiencing delays with their electric vehicle offerings of between two and five months.
A Kia spokesperson blamed global demand and battery supply, calling the e-Niro “a victim of its own success” and adding that the South Korean firm’s 2019 UK allocation of about 800 cars sold out within two weeks of going on sale in January.
He said: “The simple fact is our battery suppliers cannot make battery packs quickly enough for the demand, and if we haven’t got battery packs, we cannot sell the cars.”
Both Kia and its sister company Hyundai said they were taking reservations for 2020 deliveries and would contact interested customers once pricing and delivery time frames were clearer.
Read more: Evening Express