The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has released figures showing a general uptick in sales for BEV, PHEV and HEV vehicles, with these models commanding a 38.4% share of new car registrations in the year-to-date.
Battery electric vehicles (BEV) make up the lion’s share of that figure, with 16.6% of the market, while plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) make up 8.1% and 13.7%, respectively. BEV sales show a modest increase year-on-year, up to 16.6% from the 16.1% market share in 2023.
What’s most striking is the 31.2% boost in PHEV sales in 2024 vs 2023. PHEVs are often seen as a gateway to drivers going fully electric, mitigating the usual concerns around range and charging infrastructure. That’s likely a sign that things are heading in the right direction for fully electric vehicles over the coming years.
More worrying, however, is the division between fleet sales and private buyers. Private BEV uptake has actually fallen 10.8% year to date. The result is that fewer than one in five new BEVs are being bought by private buyers, with the vast majority being business purchases. However, even with fleet sales included, BEV sales figures are behind the levels mandated by the former Conservative government.
SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes summed up the industry’s concerns: “The year’s midpoint sees the new car market in its best state since 2021—but this belies the bigger challenge ahead. The private consumer market continues to shrink against a difficult economic backdrop, but with the right policies in place, the next government can re-energise the market and deliver a faster, fairer zero-emission transition. All parties are agreed on the need to cut carbon and replacing older fossil fuel based technologies with new electrified powertrains is the essential step to achieving that goal.”
Increasing BEV uptake among consumers
The SMMT suggests a number of measures that could increase BEV uptake among private buyers, such as reinstating the broad fiscal incentives like halving VAT for three years, which, it says, would put an additional 300,000 private BEVs on the road over the same period. It also suggests that these measures would ensure that by 2035, half of all vehicles on the road would be zero-emission. This would also reduce road transport CO2 emissions by 175 million tonnes by 2035.
In addition, SMMT suggests revising Vehicle Excise Duty plans so zero-emission vehicles are classed as essential rather than luxury vehicles by amending the ‘expensive car’ supplement due to come into effect next April. The industry body also calls for a reduction in VAT on public charge points from 20% to 5% in line with home charging, a message it says would support uptake and send the right message to consumers.
See the SMMT’s figures for all vehicles, including internal combustion engine (ICE) models, below.
