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(Elbil24): The UK’s divorce from the EU and the unfortunate pandemic has caused an acute shortage of truck drivers in the UK. There may be talk of losing as many as 100,000 drivers.
The transport crisis made it impossible to transport the necessary supplies of food, drink and fuel throughout the country.
The lack of fuel in particular has caused the British to react: They have been queuing for an hour in hopes of filling the tank – and in fear that gas stations will run out.
Don’t buy a used electric car before you read this
New record
Images from the weekend show chaos at gas stations: Long lines, broken pumps and people coming walking with gas cans in hopes of getting fuel.
The British are clearly upset about this situation – something the search engine Google is also experiencing. In recent days, the search for electric cars has exploded, and PR firm JBH reports that a new UK record has been set in Google electric car searches.
Searches for electric cars have almost doubled in recent days (+91 per cent), despite the fact that the UK has previously shown skepticism about the transition to battery-powered cars.
It’s true that 60,000 electric cars were sold in the UK last year, a 27 per cent increase from 2019, but this figure is just peanuts compared to Norway. In this country, we have passed 90,000 electric cars sold this year, even though our population is just over 60 million.
This Berkshire gas station is one of the countless gas stations with hourly queues in the UK. Photo: Steve Parsons/PA via AP.
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– This is a sign
Perhaps the fuel crisis could be a turning point. Martin Miller runs an electric car business in Surrey. He said for Security that he now has the busiest days since the beginning. And the interest doesn’t seem lost:
– People buy electric cars for the environment, to save money and because electric cars are technically superior. But now we have one of those moments where people say, “You know, this is a sign that we have to vote electrically,” Miller told the paper.
The situation is so serious that the Armed Forces are on standby to help during the crisis in the country. Many gas stations are completely empty of fuel.
“A limited number of military tanker drivers will be alerted and dispatched if necessary, to further stabilize fuel distribution,” said a statement from British authorities.
– Stop hoarding
They’ve overridden competition laws for the fuel sector, so players can work together to fill up a gas station that’s about to run dry.
The government blames gasoline deliveries to the country’s gas stations for panic buying and encourages people not to stock up on fuel.
It remains to be seen whether the fuel crisis will be the start of a measly electric car revolution in the UK.
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