UK: Plug-In Electric Car Sales Returned To Growth In August 2022

Battery-electric cars are the main force of growth for the overall market, while plug-in hybrids are struggling.

By: Mark Kane

Sep 8, 2022 at 8:57am ET

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In August, new passenger car registrations in the UK increased by 1.2% year-over-year to 68,858, which is a good sign after five months of consecutive decline. However, during the first eight months of the year, car registrations were 11% lower than a year ago at 983,089.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) explains that in August car sales increased mostly because of battery-electric cars, which noted the highest year-over-year growth.

Last month, some 13,890 plug-in electric cars were registered, which is 12% more than a year ago and 20% of the total market. It's not a bad result, considering three months of decline.

Important is the growth of BEVs by over 35% year-over-year to over 10,000 registrations, while plug-in hybrids continue its decline by 23% year-over-year to less than 4,000. Conventional hybrids were also down but by only 0.7%.

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

BEVs: 10,006 (up 35% year-over-year) at market share of 14.5%
PHEVs: 3,884 (down 23% year-over-year) at market share of 5.6%
Total: 13,890 (up 12% year-over-year) at market share of 20.2%

So far this year, more than 199,000 new passenger plug-in cars were registered in the UK, reaching an average market share of over 20%.

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

BEVs: 137,498 (up 49% year-over-year) at market share of 14.0%
PHEVs: 61,680 (down 16% year-over-year) at market share of 6.3%
Total: 199,178 (up 20% year-over-year) at market share of 20.3%

For reference, in twelve months of 2021, some 305,281 plug-in electric cars were registered (up 74% year-over-year) at 18.5% market share.

More details, including also other types:

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Top models

In August, none of the standalone electric models were able to break into the top 10 for the month or year-to-date. In June, the Tesla Model Y was second best (and 10th YTD).

LCVs

In the case of light commercial vehicles (LCV), some 15,520 were registered last month (down 25% year-over-year). Out of that, about 944 were all-electric (up 15%), which translated to a market share of 6.1%.