Only one in ten private buyers chose an electric vehicle last year despite an ‘unsustainable’ £4.5billion in price cuts offered by car makers.
The lack of public demand for EVs has raised major concerns about manufacturers achieving government-mandated target for zero-emission car sales for 2025, which require 28 per cent of registrations to be battery-powered models.
Buyers have been put off by high prices and a lack of charging infrastructure, with 60 per cent of consumers opting for a petrol motor during the year.
Just 10.1 per cent – or 75,346 – of cars sold to private customers were fully electric vehicles, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). That was despite car makers offering discounts costing them billions of pounds in a bid to tempt consumers.
Industry leaders said the price cuts were ‘not sustainable in the long term’ and urged the Government to help consumers make the switch away from diesel and petrol.
It comes after Vauxhall owner Stellantis announced plans in November to close its Luton plant, putting more than 1,100 jobs at risk amid increasing pressure to adapt to net zero.
Industry giants such as Nissan have warned that the targets would have an ‘irreversible impact’ on the British motor industry.
Just 10.1% – or 75,346 – of cars sold to private customers in 2024 were EV, official figures confirm as manufacturers struggle to tempt British drivers to buy battery-powered models
The full-year car sales figures for 2024 have been published today and show that the market recorded a second successive year of growth with 1.95 million new models entering the road.
While this is a rise of 2.6 per cent on the previous year, it is still well short of pre-Covid registration volumes.
In 2019, the last year not to be impacted by the pandemic, some 2.31 million new cars were purchased in the UK.
The latest figures published by the trade body show that manufacturers in December strove to create demand for EVs in a bid to meet binding sales targets set out by the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate.
Registrations in 2024 rose 2.6% – a second consecutive year of growth for the market. However, new car sales are still well short of volumes seen pre-pandemic
With the Government demanding that 22 per cent of all registrations must be zero emission cars – else face massive fines for missing the target – December saw maker scramble to up their numbers.
As such, EVs accounted for 31 per cent of the market. This is the second highest monthly market share of battery car sales (short of December 2022’s record 32.9 per cent), though is likely inflated by models being pre-registered before the end of the year to meet the ZEV mandate requirements.
For 2024 as a whole, EVs made up 19.6 per cent of the market (382,000 units) up by more than a fifth (around 67,000 units) from last year, but short of the percentage share demanded by the mandate.
High prices and a lack of charging infrastructure were thought to be among factors that put potential buyers of EVs
The Tesla Model Y was the best-selling EV in the UK in 2024. However, registrations of this car alone fell 9% year-on-year
While EVs made up 31% of all new car registrations in December, they accounted for just 19.6% of all sales for 2024 as a whole. Ministers believe all makers meet ZEV targets with credits
This graph shows the huge increase in share of EV sales over the last six years. With Labour reintroducing the 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars, EV registrations will need to continue accelerating at this pace
The best-selling EV was the Tesla Model Y – the world’s best-selling car of 2023 – with 32,682 registrations, down 9 per cent on the 32,686 sold last year.
Four combustion-engined models sold in greater numbers than the Model Y in 2024.
The second most-bought EV was Audi’s Q4 e-tron (17,612 sales) ahead of the Tesla Model 3 (17,425).
The Model Y and Model 3 topped the monthly registrations charts across all fuel types in December – likely due to a new shipment of cars arriving and being registered before the end of the calendar year.
Achieving 2024 EV sales targets came at a ‘high cost’ to car makers that’s ‘unsustainable’
‘One of the major constraints to growth has been lacklustre demand by private buyers, with only one in 10 choosing an EV in 2024,’ the SMMT said.
Instead, fleets and businesses drove EV sales.
Around 64,000 more BEVs were registered by fleets and businesses than in 2023, representing a quarter (25.4 per cent) of those segments’ registrations and demonstrating the effectiveness of the compelling tax incentives afforded non-private buyers.
Petrol remained the most popular powertrain among these buyers, commanding 61 per cent of demand across the board, with conventional self-charging hybrids (HEVs) in second place (16 per cent).
Diesel demand continued to shrink, with just 123,000 registrations (a year-on-year fall of 13.5 per cent) representing just 6.3 per cent of all new car sales.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said demand from private buyers is ‘still very, very weak’ and that many consumers felt there was ‘every reason’ to hold off making a purchase because of the ‘economic backdrop’ and ‘confusion about what type of vehicle to buy’ caused by mixed messages from governments over the last two years.
Fewer than two in five new models registered in 2024 were by private buyers, with fleets propping up the market. For EVs, just one in ten entering the road were bought by the public
In terms of increasing EV sales to meet the requirements of the ZEV mandate, he said the efforts made by manufacturers in 2024 had come at a ‘huge cost’.
He added: ‘The billions invested in new models has been supplemented by generous incentives which are unsustainable.
‘We need rapid results from the regulatory review and urgent substantive support for consumers – else automotive investments will be at risk and the jobs, economic growth and net-zero ambitions we all share [will be] in jeopardy.’
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief exec, said achieving mandated EV sales targets in 2024 had come at a ‘huge cost’ to car makers
While the sector fell short of the 22 per cent target set by ministers, last night the Government said it was ‘confident’ no car maker would face fines, due to ‘flexibilities’ in the rule which give them extra credit for beating targets for reducing carbon-dioxide emissions.
Failure to meet the mandated thresholds would result in fines of £15,000 per passenger car short of the required quota.
Preliminary data suggests that when taking into account emissions-reducing credits, the car market as a whole will have achieved the 22 per cent target, the Department for Transport said.
However, with the threshold rising again in 2025 and annually thereafter until fossil-fuel motors are phased out fully in 2030, manufacturers face an uphill challenge to meet targets.
Auto Trader director Ian Plummer said: ‘Hitting the next target of 28 per cent by the end of this year will be incredibly challenging.’
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: ‘December has yet been another record month for new electric cars, with nearly one in three of all vehicles sold being battery electric and 382k EVs sold across 2024.
‘Thanks to the flexibilities in the ZEV Mandate, we’re confident the whole market has complied with the 22 per cent target and that no car manufacturer will need to pay fines.
‘We’ve invested over £2.3billion to support industry and consumers make the switch, rolled out more than 72,000 public chargers, and launched a consultation to invite the sector to shape how we achieve the transition to ZEVs.
;Getting this transition right as more people make a switch to electric vehicles will support the growth of the UK market and will provide an opportunity to tap into a multibillion-pound industry that will create high paid jobs for decades to come.’