Trade association The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has stated that battery electric vehicle (BEV) adoption grew by 58.7% YOY in May 2023.
According to its monthly analysis, BEVs took a 16.9% market share of vehicles in May with 24,513 sold, maintaining growth as the UK continues to scale its clean mobility sector.
SMMT’s data also indicates that BEVs have seen 121,268 sales YTD – a 31.1% increase in comparison with the same time last year. Alongside this, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) saw a 23% sales increase in May and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) saw a 22.2% increase.
As showcased in the image above, provided by SMMT, May saw BEVs consolidate its position as the UK’s second most popular powertrain – a clear indicator of the growing appetite for EVs in the UK.
“After the difficult, Covid-constrained supply issues of the last few years, it’s good to see the new car market maintain its upward trend and the fact that growth is, increasingly, green growth is hugely encouraging,” said Mike Hawes, chief executive of The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
“Transforming the market nationwide, however, and at an even greater pace means we must increase demand and help any reticent driver overcome any concerns about electric vehicles. This will require every stakeholder – industry, government, chargepoint operators and energy companies – to play their part, accelerating investment to drive decarbonisation.”
SMMT’s analysis comes as Comparethemarket has forecast the UK to see a 13% increase in new EV registrations throughout 2023, despite dropping to a 30-year low in 2022 as reported by Current± last week.
One of the biggest reasons for the increase in EV adoption has been the rising number of chargepoints located across the UK. This has seen records broken, with Zapmap having revealed in May 2023 that chargepoint installations reached “unprecedented levels” in March and April.
During these two months, over 2,000 new EV chargers were installed propelling the total number of chargers in the UK to over 42,000. Alongside this, the average number of new chargers per month in 2023 increased by 75% compared with the same period in 2022.
