page_title: Plug-in electric vehicles in the United Kingdom
section_title: Field testing programmes
hierarchical_section_title: Plug-in electric vehicles in the United Kingdom / Field testing programmes
caption_attribution_description: English: An Electric MINI. Some person was lucky in getting one of these to test for six months, I heard on the radio they wanted people to apply. This one is the first I have seen.
context_page_description: The adoption of plug-in electric vehicles in the United Kingdom is actively supported by the British government through the plug-in car and van grants schemes and other incentives. About 298,000 light-duty plug-in electric vehicles had been registered in the UK up until April 2020, including about 8,800 plug-in commercial vans. As of December 2019, the UK had the second largest European stock of light-duty plug-in vehicles in use after Norway.
  A surge of plug-in car sales took place in Britain beginning in 2014. Total registrations went from 3,586 in 2013, to 37,092 in 2016, and rose to 59,911 in 2018. The market share of the plug-in segment went from 0.16% in 2013 to 0.59% in 2014, and achieved 2.6% in 2018.
  As of September 2018, the Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV is the all-time top-selling plug-in car in the UK almost 37,000 units registered, followed by the Nissan Leaf nearly 24,000 units. Ranking third is the BMW 330e with more than 13,000 units, followed by the BMW i3 with 11,000 units.
  The Plug-in Car Grant programme started on 1 January 2011 and is available across the UK.
context_section_description: Field testing with 100 Smart EDs began in London in 2007. On 30 April 2009, the Electric Car Corporation put on sale the Citroën C1 ev'ie, an adapted Citroën C1 intended for city driving. On that date, it had a list price of £16,850 (US$24,989).
  A demonstration trial with the Mini E took place between December 2009 and March 2011 with forty Mini E cars leased to private users for a two consecutive six-month field trial periods. In addition, one Mini E was delivered to the government car pool in Downing Street to be tested by ministers in an urban environment on their official business around London. The UK trial was a partnership between BMW Group UK, Scottish and Southern Energy, the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council. Data collection and research was conducted by Oxford Brookes University's Sustainable Vehicle Engineering Centre throughout the UK project. Funding support was provided by the Technology Strategy Board and the Department for Transport (DFT) as part of the £25 million (US$41 million) UK-wide program involving trials of 340 ultra-low carbon vehicles from several carmakers. The selected test area is roughly a triangle contained within the M40 motorway between the M25 motorway and Oxford, the A34 south to the M3 motorway, and the M3 back to the M25.
  The 40 Mini E electric cars were kept in use after the trial was completed in March 2011, participating in activities to promote awareness and understanding of electric vehicles. These cars were part of the BMW Group UK's official vehicle fleet of 4,000 low-emission luxury vehicles deployed for the London 2012 Olympic Games. The fleet also included 160 BMW ActiveE electric cars.
caption: Mini E recharging in the UK
exif: {}