EV demand growth stalls with sales now a third behind Government targets

New-car sales in the UK in February brought an increase over the same month last year, with the 90,100 registrations representing a 7.2 per cent rise year-on-year. 

According to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), it was also the best February for new car sales since 2004, helped by a chunky 17.6 per cent rise in private buyers, going against historic trends of retail customers holding off until new plate registrations in March. Fleet sales, which accounted for 59.4 per cent of the market, also saw a 1.8 per cent increase in comparison to February 2025.

However, it wasn’t all good news in the shortest month of the year. The volume of EVs only rose by 2.9 per cent year-on-year to just shy of 22,000 units. This is a slight dip over the total of roughly 29,600 electric cars registered in January and brings EV market share to just 22 per cent for the year-to-date – well behind the target of 33 per cent set by the Government’s Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate.

The ZEV Mandate requires manufacturers to ensure a specified proportion of their sales are fully electric. For every car under that threshold, brands are forced to pay a fine of £12,000, although they can buy ‘credits’ from other manufacturers in order to offset their sales of internal-combustion cars.

Nevertheless, these latest figures appear grim when compared to the same period last year. In February 2025 there were fewer registrations overall, but EV sales had jumped by more than 40 per cent compared with 2024, bringing market share to over 25 per cent. In light of this, growth in the appetite for electric cars in the UK plateaued significantly last month.  

Registrations of new Tesla models, for example, dipped by 37 per cent in February compared with last year, although the firm insists that this does not reflect recent orders, which it claims “far exceed their respective months in 2025 and 2024”.

The SMMT also points towards March being a ‘pivotal’ month, referencing the wait for the new 76-plate and the support of the government’s Electric Car Grant. 

Just as optimistic despite the disappointing figures is Ben Nelmes, the CEO of transport research firm New AutoMotive. “It is fantastic to see one in four motorists opting for an electric car in February,” he said. “As we enter yet another fossil fuel price crisis, every electric vehicle is yet another step on the road to energy independence.”

While EV sales slowed, the real winners in February were plug-in hybrids, which saw a huge increase of 43.5 per cent compared with last year, growing their market share from 8.7 per cent to 11.6 per cent. Hybrid registrations grew by 3.3 per cent to a 13.1 per cent market share, and petrol sales also made a healthy 5.2 per cent jump last month with over 41,000 new registrations. Diesel continued its decline, losing 3.8 per cent year on year and dropping from five per cent market share to 4.5 per cent. 

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