UK: Plug-In Car Sales Barely Increased In April 2022

But that's because of weak results for plug-in hybrids, as battery-electric cars are expanding quickly.

Kia EV6 (77.4kWh ‘GT-Line S’ AWD) in the UK

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

May 7, 2022 at 2:37pm ET

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In April, new passenger car registrations in the UK decreased by 15.8% year-over-year to 119,167, dragging down the year-to-date result by 5.4% to 536,727.

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the are now many challenges affecting the automotive industry, including global supply chain shortages, of which semiconductors are the most notable. Because of that, the SMMT has revised down its outlook for 2022.

Even the plug-in electric car sales are not growing as they accustomed us to doing so in the past.

According to the official data, last month's passenger plug-in electric car registrations amounted to 19,348, which is just 3% more than a year ago. The market share was 16.2%.

Together with 13,951 non-rechargeable hybrids (up 18.3% and 11.7% share), the xEVs (BEVs, PHEVs, HEVs) stand for 27.9% of the market.

If we check the details, it turns out that the main reason behind the weaker growth of plug-ins is plug-in hybrids, which noted a 33% decrease year-over-year. Sales of all-electric cars actually increase relatively quickly - by 41% year-over-year, enabling BEVs to take 10.8% of the market (compared to 6.5% a year ago).

Plug-in electric car registrations in the UK – April 2022

BEVs: 12,899 (up 41% year-over-year) at market share of 10.8%
PHEVs: 6,449 (down 33% year-over-year) at market share of 5.4%
Total: 19,348 (up 3% year-over-year) at market share of 16.2%

So far this year, more than 113,000 new passenger plug-in cars were registered in the UK, reaching an average market share of over 21%.

New plug-in car registrations, year-to-date in 2022:

BEVs: 77,064 (up 88% year-over-year) - market share of 14.4%
PHEVs: 36,210 (no change)- market share of 6.7%
Total: 113,274 (up 47% year-over-year) - market share of 21.1%

According to the SMMT, some 289,000 BEVs and 144,000 PHEV are expected to be sold in 2022 (down from respectively 307,000 and 163,000, forecasted previously). That would be a total of nearly 600,000, compared to over 305,000 in 2021.

More details, including also other types:

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Top models

This time there is no data about plug-in models and it appears that none of the stand-alone plug-in cars were able to enter the top 10, like in March, when two EVs were on the top.

LCVs

In terms of light commercial vehicles (LCV), some 21,597 were registered last month (down 29% year-over-year). Out of that, about 919 were all-electric (up 53%), which translated to a market share of 4.3%.