EVs now 25% of new cars sold, with help from £4bn in manufacturer discounts

One quarter of new cars sold in November were fully electric – that’s according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which reported a spike in the number of EVs sold as brands scramble to hit the Government’s tough ZEV mandate.

A total of 153,610 new cars hit the road last month, with 38,581 being powered by electricity. This is the highest monthly market share of EVs since December 2022, but it marks only the second time this year in which the number of electric car sales surpassed the Government’s ZEV mandate quota of 22 per cent of all models registered. 

As the SMMT’s chief executive Mike Hawes pointed out, such a market share has thus far been achievable only by having manufacturers “spending billions on compelling offers” – something he describes as “unsustainable”. Yet despite these discounts, estimated by the SMMT to be in the realm of £4billion, annual EV market share in the UK still remains below the specified target, at 18.7 per cent.

Perhaps even more worrying is the fact that while manufacturers are currently struggling to deliver on even 2024’s ZEV allocation, 2025 will increase the threshold to 28 per cent. This effectively means manufacturers will need to shift roughly 50 per cent more EVs than they have done this year – the equivalent of 90,000 more people making the switch to electric – if they wish to dodge hefty fines of £15,000 per car over the limit.

Still, the latest figures cement the UK’s place as the second-largest EV market in Europe, behind Germany. Petrol, however, remains British motorists’ preferred fuel choice, with 70,317 models using this type of fuel registered in November, and just shy of a million so far this year. Market share for hybrids continues to fall, as does that for diesels, which in November made up just over six per cent of all new cars sold.

In truth, the total number of vehicles registered in November 2024 was down by roughly two per cent compared to last year. One of the main reasons for this is dwindling uptake from private buyers, which now account for only around 38 per cent of new-car sales. The biggest slice of the pie goes to fleet sales, which account for 60 per cent of registrations, with the remainder going to low-volume business sales.

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