UK EV Sales Surge to Record Highs

­While the overall UK new car market is still recovering from COVID-19, EVs are surging, with record high deliveries in 2020.

The global vehicular market took a fiscal sledgehammer courtesy of the global market, and the UK was no exception.

As lockdowns went into place, the UK recorded a mere 1.63 million new vehicles registered in 2020, the fewest since 1992, and the 29% year-to-year slump the biggest since World War II.

For several reasons, COVID-19 caused a renewed interest in electric vehicles – according to a 2021 EY Mobility Lens Consumer Index, 41% of respondents expressed interest in EVs, an 11% increase since 2020, and a full 78% of non-internal combustion engine buyers claimed that COVID-19 heightened their environmental awareness.

Whatever the reason – and probably in no small part due to generous tax incentives around the world – EVs have surged since the doldrums of the pandemic.

According to the Electric Cars Report, this past December marked the 17th consecutive month of growth in the UK new car market, with battery electric vehicles (BEVs), in particular, experiencing exponential growth – 314,687 new registrations, up by about 50,000 units, and higher than 2020 and 2021 combined.

BEVs represented 1 in 6 new car registrations last year, with a far higher percentage in the corporate vs the consumer world (where it was only 1 in 11).

As ECR points out, a big part of this is simply automakers catching up with demand, especially since the UK stands alone as the only major European market with no BEV purchase incentives.

Mike Hawes, Chief Executive at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), remarked that “With vehicle supply challenges fading, the new car market is building back with the best year since the pandemic. Energised by fleet investment, particularly in the latest EVs, the challenge for 2024 is to deliver a green recovery.”