Consumers are likely to phase out sales of petrol and diesel cars before the UK government’s deadline of 2030.
The data from New AutoMotive’s Electric Car Count (ECC) highlights that petrol car registrations have decreased by eight percentage points since in July, while electric car registrations grew by 90%; this is despite criticism of Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s decision to expand Ulez.
In addition, while petrol accounted for 65% of new cars in 2019, they are now at under 45%. Diesel registrations have also collapsed from their peak of 50% in 2016.
Although electric motorbike sales fell by 44% (having been impacted since the plug-in motorbike grant was scaled in back in 2021), electric HGVs experienced a boom – with a record 46 of the vehicles registered in July.
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Electric vans also saw growth, with the number of vehicles registered increasing by 95% in July. The vehicles now make up 6% of the UK van market.
“Debate about the government’s 2030 target is starting to look academic. Consumers have all but ended the sale of diesel cars already, and are increasingly shunning petrol cars. Remarkably, despite a recovery in the car market sales of petrol cars remain in a long term decline, and are still around half of their pre-pandemic peak,” said New AutoMotive chief executive Ben Nelmes.
“Consumers are voting with their wallets and showing that they prefer to go electric. The biggest thing preventing more people getting an electric car remains the supply of vehicles – Ministers can fix this by introducing an ambitious ZEV mandate that starts in 2024,” he continued.
New AutoMotive policy officer Ciara Cook added: “Despite pessimism in the press, businesses are still being won over by the running cost savings e-vans bring during a time of increased costs”
“The government must resist calls to weaken the ZEV mandate, which is already looking much to unambitious. Without increasing targets the government will hurt manufactures which have excelled in this area, such as British-made Vauxhall.”
