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Revealed: The UK's top 10 Tesla hotspots

A Tesla dealership is seen in West Drayton, just outside London, Britain, February 7, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
LeaseLoco submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the DVLA , asking for data on the number of licensed Teslas, and the location of where they were licensed. Photo: Reuters/Hannah McKay (Hannah Mckay / reuters)

Stockport has been crowned as the UK’s capital of Tesla’s (TSLA), having more licensed vehicles of the electric car brand than any other local authority in Britain.

According to new DVLA research by car leasing comparison website LeaseLoco, the town in Greater Manchester has a total of 2,257 licensed Teslas, more than in Wales (690) and almost as many as the whole of Scotland (2,367).

LeaseLoco submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the DVLA , asking for data on the number of licensed Teslas, and the location of where they were licensed.

The results showed that of the 41,314 licensed Tesla cars across England, Scotland and Wales, six other local authorities have more than 1,000 registered Teslas.

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Seizing the silver medal was Hertfordshire at 1,946, with Leeds (1,833), Swindon (1,397), and Hillingdon (1,263) making up the top five.

Surrey and Milton Keynes both had more than 1,000 licensed Tesla vehicles, with 1,137 and 1,049 respectively. Watford (958), Hampshire (909) and Essex (827) rounded off the top 10 local authorities.

The regional data showed that a quarter of licensed Teslas — or 10,207 — were in the South East of England, followed by London with 6,810, while there were only 487 in the North East. West Somerset had the fewest number of Teslas, with just five.

Across London boroughs, Hillingdon had more than twice as many licensed Teslas as the next borough, Westminster (514). Barking & Dagenham (26) has the lowest number.

Watch: Dogecoin soars as Elon Musk influences crypto markets

Read more: Dogecoin surges as Elon Musk says he's working with developers

“While Tesla will always grab the headlines because of its eccentric CEO, consumers now have a wide range of electric vehicles (EVs) to choose from if they are ready to switch to green motoring,” John Wilmot, chief executive of LeaseLoco, said.

“On our platform today, we have 426,000 EV leasing deals, of which only 20,000 are Teslas. And we expect the number of EV deals to grow significantly over the next two to three years.

He added: “The demand is there, with enquiries for electric cars on our site almost doubling in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. And a recent survey we carried out revealed that a third of car owners would consider switching to electric when they buy or lease their next car.”

It comes as Tesla founder Elon Musk today doubled down his criticism of bitcoin’s (BTC-USD) environmental impact.

The billionaire said he "believes in crypto" but remains concerned about bitcoin's energy usage.

"To be clear, I strongly believe in crypto, but it can’t drive a massive increase in fossil fuel use, especially coal," Musk wrote on Twitter.

Read more: How bad is Bitcoin for the environment?

On Wednesday evening, Musk raised concerns about how much energy the technology uses. According to Cambridge University, bitcoin mining accounts for 0.7% of the world's electricity consumption.

"We are concerned about rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining and transactions, especially after coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel," Musk tweeted.

The Tesla boss reversed a decision made just months before to accept bitcoin as payment for his electric vehicles.

The announcement led bitcoin to crash 13%, with other major cryptocurrencies — including Ethereum (ETH-USD), Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) and Litecoin (LITE-USD) — following suit.

Top 10 Tesla hotspots:

  1. Stockport - 2,257

  2. Hertfordshire 1,946

  3. Leeds - 1,833

  4. Swindon - 1,397

  5. Hillingdon - 1,263

  6. Surrey - 1,137

  7. Milton Keynes - 1,049

  8. Watford - 958

  9. Hampshire - 909

  10. Essex - 827

Watch: Bitcoin drops as Elon Musk says Tesla won't take it