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⚡ IELTS Academic Reading ⏱️ Suggested Time: 18 Minutes

Electric Cars in Numbers: Global Sales & Infrastructure

Practice reading for detailed inference, conflicting criteria, and hedged writer opinions.

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How to use this lesson

For Teachers

Set an 18-minute countdown and have students locate evidence for each answer in paragraphs A to D.

Check answers using the three-part feedback lines to highlight why skimming for identical words causes errors.

For Students

Read paragraphs A to D once without stopping to understand the general message and the writer's tone.

Tackle the questions carefully, confirming that your answer matches the meaning rather than just matching words.

Reading Passage

Electric Cars in Numbers

Cambridge IELTS Academic Format

International Energy Agency (IEA): people bought more than 20 million electric cars worldwide in 2025, and 1 in 4 new cars sold was electric. The IEA counts both battery cars and plug-in hybrids as electric cars.

Countries differ. ACEA, the European car makers' association, reports that battery-electric cars were 13.6% of new car registrations in the EU in 2024. In Norway, the road traffic council OFV reports that fully electric cars were 88.9% of new cars in 2024, up from 82.4% in 2023.

The UK Department for Transport counted 87,796 public charging devices in the UK on 1 January 2026. It also counted 116,052 EV chargers, an average of 1.32 chargers for every device. It calls these official statistics in development.

The writer's own cautious view, hedged ("I think", "it seems"): these facts seem to show that electric cars are now a normal choice for many buyers, and I think the gap between Norway and the EU suggests that where people live matters a lot. The world figure includes plug-in hybrids and the EU and Norway figures count only battery cars, so the numbers cannot be compared directly, and the facts here do not show which place has the best charging.

💡 IELTS Reading Strategy

Watch out for apples-to-oranges comparisons and hedging words ("seems", "suggests"). Skimming readers often match identical terms like "chargers" or "electric cars" without noticing that the passage uses different definitions or expresses guarded personal judgment.

Questions 1–3

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in the reading passage?

YES – if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer

NO – if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer

NOT GIVEN – if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1. Geographic location appears to play a significant role in determining how widely electric cars are adopted.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

2. Worldwide electric vehicle sales figures can be evaluated on an equal footing with the registration figures recorded in Europe.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

3. Norway offers a more dependable public charging network than the United Kingdom does.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

Questions 4–6

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.

4. What does the passage state regarding the International Energy Agency's 2025 calculation?

____ A. It excluded vehicles that combine electric batteries with traditional combustion engines. ____ B. It combined pure battery vehicles and plug-in hybrids into a single statistical category. ____ C. It showed that non-electric vehicles accounted for less than half of international purchases. ____ D. It recorded precisely 20 million vehicle transactions across international markets.

5. What do the 2024 statistics provided by the road traffic council OFV indicate about Norway?

____ A. Fully electric cars made up a slightly smaller proportion of purchases than in 2023. ____ B. Battery-electric cars matched the 13.6% registration rate observed in the wider EU. ____ C. Fully electric models expanded their majority market share compared to the previous year. ____ D. Plug-in hybrids formed the largest segment of the nation's new car registrations.

6. Which statement accurately reflects the UK Department for Transport's data from 1 January 2026?

____ A. The total quantity of EV chargers exceeded the overall count of physical charging devices. ____ B. Every individual charging device in the public domain was equipped with exactly two chargers. ____ C. The published infrastructure metrics were released as finalized, definitive national records. ____ D. The counted EV chargers were evenly distributed across identical commercial properties.

Questions 7–8

The reading passage has four paragraphs, A–D. Which paragraph contains the following information?

NB You may use any letter more than once.

7. An explanation of why specific sets of vehicle statistics cannot be evaluated alongside each other.

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

8. Details of an organisation grouping distinct vehicle technologies under one headline figure.

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

Questions 9–10

Complete the summary below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Public Charging Provisions in the UK

On 1 January 2026, the UK Department for Transport registered 87,796 public charging devices across the country. Together with a total count of 116,052 EV chargers, this recorded provision represented an average of ____ (Answer) (9) chargers for every single unit.

Owing to the evolving nature of the data gathering process, the government authority officially categorises these findings as ____ (Answer) (10) in development.

IELTS Reading: The Electric Vehicle Transition

Electric Cars in Numbers: Global Sales & Infrastructure

How to use this lesson

Electric Cars in Numbers

Questions 1–3

Questions 4–6

Questions 7–8

Questions 9–10

Public Charging Provisions in the UK

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