EVs account for record 32% market share in April

EVs account for record 32% market share in April

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Zapmap
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The UK’s electric vehicle market performed superbly compared to the rest of the market, against a backdrop of falling overall sales hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak. In the first full month of lock-down, pure-EVs were down just 10% in April 2020 – taking 32% market share – whilst all other fuel types were down more than 90%.

evs account record 32 market share april 

April 2020 saw just 4,321 models registered, a figure not entirely surprising considering the UK was in full lock-down throughout that period. As such, outright sales were down more than 97% for the month compared to April 2019.

Pure-electric models performed better in just about every area than any other fuel type. Total sales were topped by petrol cars, but other than that, pure-EVs triumphed.

evs account record 32 market share april 

Table courtesy of SMMT

The drop in sales was significantly less than other types of car, and pure-electric models were behind only petrols in the terms of registrations, beating diesels, PHEVs, hybrids, and mild hybrids.

The top-10 best selling models were topped by two pure-EVs for the first time, with Tesla’s Model 3 (658) in first place and the Jaguar I-Pace (367) in second. Their combined 1,025 units accounted for 24% of all cars registered in April, and helped EVs to its market share of 32% for the month.

Suffice to say, this market share is a new record – and by a huge margin. The previous record of 4.6% for pure-EVs and 7.3% for combined plug-in sales was set in May and was a significant improvement on previous figures.

However, April’s 32% market share for pure-EVs and 34% for combined plug-in registrations is a dramatic increase on anything seen before.

evs account record 32 market share april 

It’s all to be tempered by the fact that these figures come in strange times, but EVs have certainly resisted the impact of lock-down better than any other vehicles.

It’s not completely unexpected however, as waiting lists for pure-electric models are often lengthy in comparison to other cars, and this back-log will have caught up a little during this period of low sales. A concertina effect was anticipated to a degree, but April UK registrations have proven far more resilient than anticipated.

Figures for May will be equally interesting to see, and will depend greatly on whether any lock-down restrictions are lessened/lifted in coming weeks. It is hoped that EVs continue to perform strongly, and market trends indicate that buyers are looking at electric models greater than ever before.