The UK’s electric vehicle market continued its now familiar growth in April, with more than 3,800 plug-in cars registered in April 2018 – representing 2.3% of the total UK car market.
The figure sees electric vehicles far outstrip growth in other areas of the UK car market, with total plug-in registrations up 42% compared to last year. By comparison, the overall car market had a strong month in April 2018, but grew 10%.
Of the combined electric vehicle registrations, more than 900 units were pure-electric models, and almost 3,000 were PHEVs. The ratio sees PHEVs account for three out of every four plug-in cars registered in April 2018.
In 2018 to date, there have already been almost 18,000 electric vehicles registered, making up 2.0% of the overall car market for the first four months of the year. The rolling 12-month total is almost 50,500 registrations, indicating that 2018 is already ahead of 2017’s total of just over 47,000 units. The first four months of 2017 saw almost 14,700 plug-in cars registered.
PHEV registrations are up 28% for 2018 to date compared to 2017, as the popularity of the powertrain type shows no sign of slowing down yet. With new models regularly coming to market, it is expected that PHEVs will continue to make up the bulk of UK plug-in sales for the next year or so at least.
By contrast, pure-EV registrations are -9.0% for the year to date. Although there is plenty of time for that figure to be turned around, the pure-electric market needs a boost to pick up growth again. With a number of new and important models coming to market recently and in the year to come, forecasts are optimistic that the pure-EV market will have grown by the end of the year.
Models eligible for the UK’s Plug-in Car Grant (PiCG) accounted for 94.5% of total plug-in registrations for April 2018. For the year to date, the figure is 92%, though most available electric vehicles don’t qualify for the UK PiCG on grounds of price, rather than failing to meet electric range or CO2 emissions criteria.
Find more electric vehicle market analysis at Next Green Car
