New data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveals that April saw growth in new electric vehicle (EV) registrations for the 21st consecutive month.
Registrations rose by 1.0% to reach 134,274 units, marking the best April since 2021, although uptake was still -16.6% below the pre-pandemic level.
The wider car market is looking strong, with 1.98 million new cars are now anticipated to be registered in 2024, a 4.2% rise on last year and a 0.5% increase on January’s outlook.
Yet EV volumes for this year have been revised downwards by -5.2%, with the anticipated market share now 19.8%, significantly below the government target of 22% per manufacturer under the Vehicle Emissions Trading Scheme.
Growth was driven primarily by fleets, where registrations rose by 18.5% to reach 81,207 units – more than six in 10 of all new cars registered in April – continuing a trend seen throughout 2024 thus far.
Private buyer uptake fell by -17.7% to 50,458 units, while business registrations declined by -16.1% to 2,609.
EV uptake rose 10.7%, pushing the market share to 16.9%, a significant increase from last April’s 15.4%. However, in spite of the overall positive EV uptake, fewer than one in six new EVs bought in April went to consumers, whose uptake volumes fell by -21.9%.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “The new car market continues to grow even in the quieter months, driven primarily by fleet demand. This is particularly true of the electric vehicle sector, where the absence of government incentives for private buyers is having a marked effect. Although attractive deals on EVs are in place, manufacturers cannot fund the mass market transition single-handedly.”
Similar studies
Over the past few months, many research studies and surveys have been completed to examine the UK’s EV adoption and infrastructure development closely.
One such study is from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which expects more than one in five cars sold worldwide in 2024 to be an EV.
According to the research, by 2030, EVs will make up almost one in three cars on China’s roads, whereas this figure will be one in five in the US and EU.
The IEA’s latest Global EV Outlook details that global EV sales are set to reach around 17 million by the end of the year. Growth has already been significant, with sales growing by about 25% in the first quarter compared to the same quarter in 2023.
Illustrating this point, the number of EVs sold globally in the first three months of this year was roughly equal to the number sold in all of 2020, with 95% of these sales in China, Europe and the US.
Lloyds Banking Group released a survey from UK drivers, which revealed that approximately one third of the 1,214 private drivers said they were now more likely to switch to electric, while 20% said they were less likely, and just over half claimed they were not changing their plans.
Almost 60% of participants cited the expense of an EV as the main factor preventing them from switching. More than half mentioned the availability of charging points as a major factor, with just over 40% pointing towards logistics and the cost of installing charging infrastructure at home.
SMMT has also published research showing that the growing adoption of EVs led to a 2.1% reduction in emissions. In an analysis derived from Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data, the average car’s carbon emissions dropped by 2.1%, while company car emissions plummeted by 11.5%.
The number of vehicles on UK roads reached a record high in 2023, rising by 1.7% to 41,404,589, with plug-in vehicles contributing to the biggest growth in car ownership since 2016.
