Sales of new electric cars rose by more than a third in June compared with the same month last year, with EVs now making up a quarter of the UK’s new car market - but more still needs to be done to hit government-mandated targets.
Last month, 47,354 EVs left forecourts, 24.8% of all new car sales in June and a year-on-year rise of 39.1%. The increase boosted year-to-date EV sales to 224,841, according to figures released on Friday by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
While this is a boon for car makers as the industry pushes to increase the number of battery-electric vehicles it sells, the powertrain’s 2025 market share sits at 21.6%, significantly behind the 28% sales-mix target demanded by the government’s ZEV mandate.
Car makers that miss this year's target could be fined up to £12,000 per car under the target. The required percentage sales mix for EVs will rise incrementally each year to 80% by 2030.
More worrying, says SMMT chief Mike Hawes, is that this below-mandate figure is being achieved “by substantial industry support, with manufacturers using every channel and unsustainable discounting to drive activity”.
Hawes again called for more government support in the form of purchase and charging incentives and a rethink on the newly implemented Expensive Car Supplement (ECS), which significantly impacts EVs because they are more expensive due to the immaturity of the technology.
“As we have seen in other countries, government incentives can supercharge the market transition, without which the climate change ambitions we all share will be under threat,” he said.
Incentives would also drive retail sales, as the fleet market once again did the heavy lifting for June’s 191,316 new car sales (a 6.6% rise on June 2024), making up 60% of total registrations.
Elsewhere, sales of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) grew 28.8% year on year to 21,382 units, full and mild hybrids fell by 8.5% to 23,835, petrol declined 4.2% to 88,029, and diesel remained effectively flat (0.2%) with 10,716. Petrol cars accounted for just over half (51.6%) of June’s new car market.
For the year to date, EV sales have grown 34.6% compared with the first six months of 2024, PHEVs are up 31.3% and hybrids have risen 9%. Meanwhile, petrol car sales have fallen 9.4% and diesels are down 11.3%.
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