Electric cars drive rebound in UK auto sales, but EVs still face hurdles

Electric vehicles and hyrbids grapped grabbed nearly one third of total new car sales in the UK in January, but major hurdles still loom for the uptake of EVs.

According to the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), new car registrations across private, fleet, and business for January reached a total of 115,087, a 27.5% increase over January of 2021, but nevertheless still down 20% on the pre-pandemic January 2020 figure.

The good news was the strong performance of electrified vehicles, with 4,433 new full battery electric vehicles (BEVs) registered, accounting for a 12.5% market share, along with 9,047 plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) with a 7.9% market share, and 13,492 hybrid EVs (HEVs) with a 11.7% market share.

When combined, electrified vehicles accounted for 32% of the total number of new car registrations in January, well up on the 21% market share electrified vehicles accounted for in January 2021.

“This ongoing growth in electric vehicle registrations is remarkable considering debilitating effects of the global semiconductor shortage on supply,” said Mike Hawes, chief executive of SMMT.

“Manufacturers have sought to prioritise these new technology vehicles and the UK has been able to secure its fair share. With more than one in six new cars registered last year electrified, average new car CO₂ emissions fell by 11.1% to its lowest ever level of 119.7g/km.

“However,” he said, “if CO₂ is to continue to fall and potentially at a faster pace, more drivers must switch to electric and other zero emission cars.”

Hawes said one of the biggest obstacles remains perceptions about the availability of public chargers, specifically local, on street chargers. “The expansion of this network must keep pace with the increasing levels of demand, something that may require mandated targets to deliver given the rapid growth of electric vehicles,” he said.

SMMT expects BEV registrations will account for 16.2% of total sales in 2022 and are expected to reach 307,000, while PHEV registrations will take a market share of 8.6% and HEVs a market share of 10.4%. It sees BEV registrations expected to account for a market share of 18.5% in 2023, PHEVs a share of 10.2%, and HEVs a share of 11.4%.