Today’s latest figures from The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), detailing new car registrations in June 2021, have a story to tell.
The main protagonist is Tesla’s Model 3, which broke into the top ten bestselling cars in the UK for the second time in 2021, this time taking the top spot. Last month saw 5,468 of Tesla’s Model 3 sold in the UK, versus 4,629 models of the Volkswagen Golf, which came in second.
Of course, that’s not the whole story. Overall, battery-electric vehicles (BEV) played an important role in the June figures, representing 10.7% of all new car registrations. This marks the first time in 2021 that BEVs have topped 10% market share, although December 2020 did see BEVs come away with an impressive 16.5%.
Despite this positive news, however, there were also some worrying signs. These came from significant increases in the sales of mild hybrid electric vehicles (MHEV) as well as hybrid electric vehicles (HEV).
Indeed, MHEV diesel vehicles saw an increase of 192.6%, up from 2.7% market share in June 2020 to 6.1% last month. Greater still, MHEV petrol vehicles rose from 4.5% to 13.5% – an increase of 286.7%. HEVs also increased 57.9%, from 7% in June 2020 to 8.7% in 2021. These figures highlight the need for better consumer communication and education around the different types of hybrid vehicles available, with MHEVs and HEVs providing very little environmental benefit.
There is some encouragement to be had from plug-in vehicles, however. BEV market share last month grew by 122.9% compared to June 2020, and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) by 145.7%. Together, they accounted for 17.2% of all new car sales last month. Although that figure is not the highest it’s been, it is up from 9.5% in the same period last year, and up from 13.7% at the beginning of the year. See Zap-Map’s page on plug-in options for more information on plug-in vehicles.
The chart above displays the number of registrations and the market share of plug-in vehicles each month over the past 13 months. As you can see, June 2021 saw a total of 31,981 new electric vehicle registrations, comprising 19,842 BEVs and 12,139 PHEVs.
This takes the cumulative total of plug-in vehicles on UK roads – as of the end of June 2021 – to over 570,000 (approx. 280,000 BEVs and 290,000 PHEVs). In terms of market share, plug-in sales were at 17.2% last month.
June 2021 was a good month for plug-in vehicles, which made up 17.2% of overall vehicle sales. As you can see in the graph above, this means they now represent 14.5% of market share in 2021 year-to-date. So far in 2021, BEVs represent 8.1% of market share, with PHEVs at 6.4%.
Overall, sales of new plug-in vehicles continue to show very encouraging signs. As mentioned above, Tesla’s Model 3 once more broke into the top ten last month, taking the top spot. The Model 3 had previously come in fourth in March this year, selling 6,585 models in the UK and representing the first time an electric car had made it to the top ten in 2021.
Moreover, charging point infrastructure and solutions in the UK continue to grow too. Only last week, GRIDSERVE revealed its plans for the Electric Highway and char.gy revealed it is the latest charge point operator to sign up to Zap-Pay, the simple way to pay for EV charging across networks from within the Zap-Map app.
“With pure-electric vehicles passing 10% market share for the first time this year and Tesla Model 3 topping the sales chart, this month’s EV sales continue to reflect the high and growing consumer demand for zero-emission vehicles,” said Melanie Shufflebotham, COO & Co-founder of Zap-Map.
“Just as importantly, charge point infrastructure across the UK continues to grow at pace, with significant announcements from operators big and small becoming more and more frequent. This will be critical to the mass adoption of EVs as they increasingly enter the public eye.”
