The UK saw its millionth full electric car registered in January 2024, as Britain’s electric car revolution gathers momentum. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders now expects more than one in five cars registered during 2024 will be full electric drive models, up from one in six during the previous year.
The new car market as a whole improved, with 142,876 new cars registered in January, the biggest number for the month since 2020. Increasing demand was from the fleet market, which improved by 29.9%, accounting for more than six in ten new cars registered.
In contrast, private buyer numbers fell, indicative of the pressure consumers are feeling from other rising household and mortgage costs. Fleet sales also include cars supplied for salary sacrifice and company car schemes. Salary sacrifice, in particular, is a tax-efficient way for employees to have a new electric car, at a lower monthly cost than that of a typical personal lease, hire purchase or PCP scheme.
Battery electric vehicle sales were up 21% for January, year on year while sales of plug-in hybrids also grew, up 31.1%. In contrast, sales of diesel-powered cars fell 10.1%. The SMMT is supportive of new government incentives to help advance consumer adoption of electric cars. One proposal is to temporarily halve VAT on new electric cars. This, says the organisation, “would cost the Treasury an average of just £1,125 per car, which is less than the cost of the previous Plug-in Car Grant”.
“It’s taken just over 20 years to reach our million EV milestone – but with the right policies, we can double down on that success in just another two,” said Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT. “Market growth is currently dependent on businesses and fleets. Government must therefore use the upcoming Budget to support private EV buyers, temporarily halving VAT to cut carbon, drive economic growth and help everyone make the switch.” For those taking delivery of a new fully electric car, one key consideration is where to charge it most easily. At The Full EV, we install both home chargers and workplace chargers, helping to make the switch to electric driving as simple as possible.
