Sales of all-electric EVs continue to rise

Sales of all-electric EVs were up by 63% year-on-year, whilst sales of hybrids were down by 2%. 16% of all new cars bought in the UK in March 2022 were fully electric. This is up from 8% of the market in March 2021.

Both diesel and petrol share of the market has fallen in the last 12 months, from 72% of sales last March, to 58% now.

Ciara Cook, Research and Policy Officer at New AutoMotive, said: “Our latest car sales data shows that Brits are continuing to make the switch – electric car sales have doubled in the last year and is the fastest growing segment in the market.

“We’ve also seen encouraging growth in certain areas of the country – 1 in 3 new car registrations in both Kent and Peterborough (inc. Cambridge) were fully electric.

“Although it’s encouraging to see that diesel sales have halved in the past year, data shows that just under 19,000 were registered in March. This means these cars will be polluting the road for another 14 years before they’re scrapped. This, record prices at the pump, and 18% of the UK’s diesel coming from Russia, shows the government needs to continue its push for EVs to become mainstream.

“We need the government to implement an ambitious Zero Emissions Vehicle mandate that will prioritise UK-based manufacturing, this will reduce upfront costs and increase the variety of models available to drivers.”

For the third month in a row the Peterborough DVLA area (which includes Cambridgeshire), continues to be the leader in EV registrations.

Maidstone (which includes all of Kent) comes in second with over 1 in every three new cars registered in both of these areas electric.

Oxfordshire continues to fall down the list of EV hotspots now in third place.

We track regional registrations using a three-month rolling average, which masks big variations in EV market share from month to month.

The DVLA areas and regions with the highest share of EVs are as follows:

• Peterborough (inc. Cambridgeshire) 40%
• Maidstone (covering all of Kent) 38%
• Oxfordshire 32%
• Bristol 23%
• Birmingham 22%

The full data release is available here.

Image: courtesy newautomotive.org