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It’s usually the quietest car sales month of the year – generally accounting for less than 5 per cent of annual deliveries ahead of September’s registration change – but for EVs August was a different story. While the new car market shrunk, as the typically quiet month saw a 2 per cent decline in sales, electric cars had a record August.
New car registrations recorded just 82,908 units, the latest Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders data shows. But the transition to EVs was given a booster charge thanks to a new fiscal incentive from the Government, in the form of the Electric Car Grant , and manufacturers offering their own discount ‘grants’ while they waited to see if they qualified for the official one.
As such battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations went up by 14.9 per cent to reach a market share of 26.5 per cent – the highest this year and the fourth highest on record. Also contributing to this surge in green car uptake is the investment manufacturers are making to deliver a huge range of model choice to customers.
BEV sales replicated the pattern seen in 2023 and 2024 when August’s low overall registration volumes and high fleet concentration resulted in significantly larger BEV shares than those recorded across the rest of the year. Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: ‘August was the best month yet this year for EV market share and, while it is often volatile due to low overall volumes, the overall trend is positive.’
However, industry insiders are warning that EV levels are still below what’s needed to meet the Government’s strict Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate levels. The ZEV mandate requires manufacturers to sell a minimum of 28 per cent zero-emission cars – but new electric car sales are currently tracking behind that, with BEV share comprising 21.9 per cent. And experts are saying it will take more than the Government’s Electric Car Grant to achieve this.
John Cassidy, managing director of sales at Close Brothers Motor Finance, commented: ‘Schemes such as the Electric Vehicle Grant will go some way to tempting new buyers to take the leap, but the upfront costs of many EVs are still high and the list of qualifying vehicles for the top bracket is short. ‘More incentives and – equally importantly – an improvement of the charging infrastructure are what’s needed to seriously encourage EV adoption.’
Meanwhile, insurance comparison website Confused doubled down on this, pointing to research that shows charging infrastructure is ‘struggling to keep pace with EV demand’ and that two in five drivers say there’s poor availability of public chargers in their area. Mike Hawes adds that ‘September will be critical’ with the ‘new number plate factor typically driving around one in seven new car registrations for the year’.
The only fuel type that managed to outpace BEV growth in August was plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) which rose by 69.4 per cent to deliver an 11.8 per cent market share. Hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) uptake, meanwhile, fell by -13.9 per cent to account for 11.4 per cent of the market. In the first eight months, the new car market is up 2.1 per cent to a five-year peak of 1.265 million – although it still remains 16.7 per cent down on pre-pandemic levels.
Unsurprisingly fleet uptake was dominant, accounting for 59.1 per cent of all new vehicles reaching the road despite a 4.6 per cent reduction in volumes. Uptake by private buyers – usually a sore spot for EV sales in particular – grew by a marginal 0.7 per cent while the business sector rose 41.6 per cent, although this equated to fewer than 500 additional units.
The top seller was the Ford Puma, with 2,457 registrations. The next nearest model was the Kia Sportage with 1,785 and taking third and fourth place were two Teslas – the Model Y and 3 with 1,650 and 1,593 registrations respectively.
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