The UK’s electric vehicle market continued its strong growth in June 2018, with Plug-in Hybrids (PHEVs) in particular performing strongly – up 54% vs last year. Almost 6,300 plug-in models were registered during last month, representing 2.7 % of the total UK car market.
PHEVs accounted for 76% of that sales mix, with more than 4,700 units registered in June. Pure-electric models accounted for more than 1,500 registrations during the month – up more than 3% vs last year. In total, there are almost 52,000 pure-electric models registered in the UK, and close to 110,000 PHEVs.
June 2018 saw a record number of plug-in registrations for the month. Excluding March and September figures, last month was also the highest outright – with the new registration plates launching each March and September skewing figures in favour of those months when looking at overall records.
As such, June 2018 was a particularly strong month for electric vehicle registrations, with the second highest market share on record too. Total plug-in sales increased more than 41% vs last year, and up almost 24% compared to May 2018.
Table courtesy of SMMT
With more than 5,500 Plug-in Car Grant eligible models registered during the month, 89% of total plug-in registrations qualified for an OLEV grant. The majority of plug-in registrations that don’t receive a grant don’t qualify on grounds of cost, rather than efficiency standards.
For the half year to date, 2018 is ahead of 2017’s registrations by more than 7,000 units – up by around 31% – with more than 29,000 registrations since the turn of the year. EV registrations are now averaging almost 5,000 units a month for 2018 so far. 2017’s monthly average finished up at around 3,900.
The positive outlook for the UK’s electric vehicle market is in stark contrast to diesel’s continued decline. Diesel registrations fell 28% compared to last year, and has fallen to 32% market share for the month. In context, diesel sales had already begun to drop in June 2017, with market share at 43%.
Table courtesy of SMMT
Total UK vehicle registrations were -3.5% for June 2018, with petrol sales increasing more than 12% and alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFVs) up 45%. Petrol models account for more than 60% of the market, and AFVs 6.6%.
AFVs include pure-EVs and PHEVs, plus conventional hybrids primarily. Conventional petrol hybrid registrations also grew by more than 50% compared to last year, while diesel hybrids dropped almost 40%. Considering there were only just over 30 units for June 2018 though, this isn’t a particularly big drop in the grand scheme of things.
Find out more about electric car statistics on Zap-Map’s sister site – Next Green Car
