Electric automobile gross sales set to overlook a key Government goal as demand slows

Sales of new electric cars will miss a key target this year.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) is expecting electric vehicles (EVs) to make up 18.5 per cent of new registrations by the end of 2024, down from its previous estimate in April of 19.8 per cent.

More importantly, it also falls short on the former Conservative government’s target for 22 per cent of vehicles to produce zero emissions this year.

Carmakers who fail to meet the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate face a penalty of £15,000 a car but are expected to escape punishment by vowing to meet future targets between now and 2035, when the petrol and diesel car ban comes into effect.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders expect electric cars to make up 18.5% of all new registrations by the end of 2024

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said: ‘More people are buying and driving EVs but we still need the pace of change to quicken, else the UK’s climate change ambitions are threatened and manufacturers’ ability to hit regulated EV targets are at risk.’

The SMMT expects 1,968,000 new cars to be registered in 2024 – 3.4 per cent higher than 2023 but lower than the 1,984,000 forecast in April.

And while it expects new car registrations to reach 2,029,000 in 2025, this will be slightly below the organisation’s earlier estimates. Electric cars will make up 23.7 per cent of the market next year down from 25 per cent.

That figure will also be below the ZEV mandate for 28 per cent of new cars.

The figures suggest that demand for EVs is waning despite government efforts to encourage motorists to switch from petrol and diesel cars. In total, 147,517 new cars were sold in July – 2.5 per cent up on last year – according to the SMMT’s figures.

That represented 24 consecutive months of year-on-year growth. It was also the best performance for July since the pandemic in 2020 as dealers returned to trading following months of lockdown.

The month’s increase was driven by a 13 per cent rise in orders from fleet customers.

That offset the 11.1 per cent slump in private sales. A total of 8,708 diesel and 76,879 petrol cars were bought in July, a drop of 21.9 per cent and 5.9 per cent respectively.

Sales of fully electric battery cars rose by 18.8pc to 27,335 while hybrid vehicles jumped 31.4per cent to 21,446.

And more than 1.15m cars have been registered in 2024, which is up 5.5 per cent on the same period last year, with 37 per cent to private buyers and the rest to fleet and business customers.