It is shown by new figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) that new car registrations in July 2023 were 28.3% up on July last year, the 12th consecutive month of growth.
of the 143,921, 23,010 registrations were BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles), an 87.9% increase on the 12,243 registered a year ago.
HEV (Hybrid Electric Vehicles) saw an increase of 18.9% in registrations, even though their market share fell slightly. Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) registrations jumped 79.1% to make up 8.1% of the market. Over a third of the whole market is now represented by the combined registrations of the electrified vehicles
Petrol engine automobiles accounted for 45.7% of new registrations in June 2022, and this has fallen to 40.4% while BEVs market share has grown from 10.9% to 16%.
While the SMMT point out that there is a new BEV registered every 60 seconds, they predict that by the end of the year this will rise to one every 50 seconds and to one every 40 seconds in 2024.
With a record high of 3,056 new standard public chargers being installed, the efforts to ensure that chargepoint availability keeps up with demand continues apace equal to one new charger for every 35 new plug-in vehicles registered. Last year in the same quarter, the ratio was only one for every 58 automobiles. However, the installation rate needs to be three times what it is now to meet the target of 300,000 chargepoints by 2030,.
SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes stated that the industry was committed to meeting the United Kingdom’s zero emission deadlines and continues making investments to take us there. He said that since choice and innovation in the market were increasing, it was encouraging to see an increasing number of people switching on to the benefits of driving electric. Consumers should be provided with every possible incentive to purchase however, with the rising costs of living, inflation and a zero emission vehicle mandate that will dictate the market coming next year. Every lever should therefore be pulled by the Government to make running, purchasing, and, especially, charging an EV affordable and practical for every driver in every part of the country.
