ReFLEX uncovered an issue where leased vehicles are registered in the location where the lease company is based, rather than where the car is based, resulting in under-reporting of the number of electric vehicles in Orkney.
DVLA statistics are the only means by which local authorities and others can plan the necessary infrastructure to support the decarbonisation of transport so there is a risk of under provision of charging infrastructure and, on a national scale, resources being allocated incorrectly.
ReFLEX findings
DVLA statistics (previously VEH0131 / now VEH0142) are used to show how many vehicles are registered in Orkney. Orkney Renewable Energy Forum has tracked these figures for many years, however when ReFLEX started bringing in a higher number of EVs to Orkney, it was noticed that the DVLA statistics didn't increase as expected to reflect the ReFLEX effect.
Discussions with the Office of National Statistics in 2021 uncovered that the postcode of the 'registered keeper' is used to allocate the location of the vehicle. Whilst this is sufficient for car purchases it means that, as leased vehicles are registered by the lease company, the lease company business address is used. The data reported online is therefore not reflective of the number of electric vehicles in any location, particularly in Orkney now that ReFLEX Orkney has significantly increased the number of leased electric vehicles in Orkney.
VEH0131 was withdrawn by DVLA in 2022 in preference of VEH0142. The latter does now refer to ‘keepership' of the registered vehicle, rather than the owner. We thought this would have resolved the issue however that doesn't seem to be the case.
Note: It is believed that vehicle registrations used to record two addresses, that of the registered owner and of the registered keeper. At some point the decision was taken to simply record a single address and the ‘owner’ field was dropped. Unfortunately the address now being stored is that of the owner, but under the ‘keeper’ heading. To unravel this will be a considerable task and require changes to the vehicle registration nationally.
Why is this an issue?
Overreporting where the lease company is based may over-inflate that county's EV uptake and decarbonization efforts, and other counties, such as Orkney, will look worse than is the reality. We have seen this with some recent reports in the media where Orkney was reported to be at the bottom of the table for EV registrations growth in Scotland.
This can impact policy decisions, for example around charging infrastructure where capacity will initially be scaled to anticipated demand.
What needs to change?
Engagement with the Dept of Transport was made to resolve this issue, but with little effect. DVLA need to change the way electric vehicles, particularly lease vehicles, are registered to ensure accurate reporting.
