Map reveals where electric vehicles are most popular in the West Midlands
Solihull motorists have the greatest share of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), while Birmingham has seen the largest year-on-year increase in those registered.
The rate of ownership for battery electric vehicles varies considerably across the West Midlands Metropolitan County, with many areas ranking considerably lower than the UK average.
New research by SNAP, the digital solutions company for international mobility, shows uneven uptake of fully electric vehicles across all categories of vehicle, from passenger cars to heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) over the past year.
By calculating the rate of registered battery electric vehicles from the Department for Transport’s most recently available data, SNAP’s research shows the number of registered BEVs per 1,000 vehicles in Solihull (75) is more than double that of anywhere else in the county.
Registered battery electric vehicles per 1,000 vehicles in the West Midlands county
- Solihull: 75
- Sandwell: 31
- Birmingham: 18
- Dudley: 18
- Coventry: 18
- Wolverhampton: 17
- Walsall: 16
As a whole, the West Midlands county has a higher rate of BEV ownership than 60% of other UK local authorities, however this is mostly skewed by the performance of Solihull and Sandwell, with Birmingham, Dudley, Coventry, Wolverhampton and Walsall all sitting far below the average rate for UK local authorities of 32 BEVs registered per 1,000 vehicles.
The West Midlands trails the national average for electric passenger cars, with 23 fully electric vehicles for every thousand, compared with 41 per thousand across the UK. Ownership estimates from Zapmap suggest the national rate could reach 50 per thousand before the end of 2025.
The picture is similar for fully electric heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), with the planned phasing out of non zero-emission vehicles still more than a decade away in the UK, the West Midlands saw its proportion of battery electric trucks climb to just 1 in every 1,000 HGVs in the past year. This is less than half of the average UK local authority’s proportion of electric lorries, which is just above two in every thousand.
A notable increase in West Midlands' fully electric vehicles
While relative ownership of BEVs in much of the West Midlands is lagging behind the UK, there has been a significant year-on-year increase in the amount being registered over the past year.
There were 9,385 more electric vehicles registered in the West Midlands in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. This is the third highest of any county in the UK, with only Greater Manchester (+41,920) and West Yorkshire (+17,205) ranking higher.
Within the West Midlands, Birmingham recorded the largest annual rise in electric vehicle registrations, with 2,847 additional vehicles, representing a 49% increase year on year.
Increase in battery electric vehicles in the West Midlands Met county (Q1 2024 vs Q1 2025):
- Birmingham: +2,847
- Solihull: +1,692
- Dudley: +1,199
- Sandwell: +1,143
- Walsall: +950
- Wolverhampton: +884
- Coventry: +670
Over 94% of the West Midlands' newly registered battery electric vehicles were cars, and only seven newly registered HGVs in the past year here were fully electric. While this number is considerably low, it is still above the UK average increase and only five other counties recorded more zero-emission trucks newly registered in the same period.
More information on EV ownership and cost savings can be found within SNAP’s research at: https://snapacc.com/newsroom/fuel-vs-charge-is-the-switch-to-electric-cheaper-or-just-greener/