Well over 12 million on Britain's roads
The number diesel cars licensed in Great Britain stood at 12.4 million at the end of 2017.
The figures – released today by the Department for Transport – show that this was a 3.3% increase on the 12 million at the end of 2016, and an almost doubling of the 6.6 million diesel cars on the road a decade ago back in 2007.
In 1997 the number of diesel cars in Great Britain was just 2.4 million.
The data also shows that of the 31.2 million cars (also a record number) of all propulsion types licensed in Great Britain at the end of 2017:
• 18.3 million were petrol powered
• 414,000 were hybrid electric
• 45,000 were pure electric
In addition, the number of vans – almost all of which will be powered by diesel – is also at a new high with 3.9 million in Britain.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said:
“These latest figures show just how entrenched diesel cars are in our society. It also illustrates that even if the dramatic drop in sales of new diesel cars continues it will take several years before the size of the overall diesel fleet is significantly dented.
“It’s not just diesel cars that are at record numbers. The van fleet has just hit a new high of 3.9 million and almost all of these will be powered by diesel.
The new figures also show that the average age of cars in Britain now stands at 8.1 years. This is up from 8 years in 2016 and 6.8 years a decade ago.
Steve Gooding added:
“The increasing age of cars partly reflects the build quality and reliability of modern cars. But while in our generally throw-away society keeping things for as long as possible can be seen as positive, it also means that some of the older, most polluting cars might be with is for longer than we might now like.”
Not only is the number of diesel vehicles on the road at a record, so too is the amount of diesel fuel being sold.
In 2017, 30.4 billion litres of diesel was used in the UK, up from 30.1 billion litres in 2016.
At the same time the amount of petrol being sold dropped slightly from 17.1 billion litres in 2016 to 16.8 billion litres in 2017.
Total fuel consumption remained constant at 47.2 billion litres.
ENDS
Contact:
Philip Gomm – Head of External Communications – RAC Foundation
[email protected] | 020 7747 3445 | 07711 776448 | 020 7389 0601 (ISDN)
Notes to editors:
The RAC Foundation is a transport policy and research organisation that explores the economic, mobility, safety and environmental issues relating to roads and their users.
The Foundation publishes independent and authoritative research with which it promotes informed debate and advocates policy in the interest of the responsible motorist.
All the Foundation’s work is available on its website: