Electric car sales lagged further behind targets last year despite more than £5bn in subsidies from manufacturers to boost take-up by motorists.
The market share of battery-driven cars rose to 23.4 per cent, or 473,340 vehicles, but that fell short of the Government’s 28 per cent goal for 2025, industry figures showed.
Carmakers are taking an average £11,000 hit on the price of EVs in order to boost lacklustre demand.
But the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which compiled the figures, warned that this was unsustainable and risked hurting investment in the UK.
The figures also revealed overall new car sales topped 2m in 2025 for the first time since the pandemic.
However, UK carmakers are being squeezed by aggressive government targets to phase out petrol and diesel cars in favour of electric vehicles (EVs).
Out of charge: The market share of battery-driven cars rose to 23.4% last year but that fell short of the government’s 28% goal for 2025, industry figures showed
EV market share of new cars must rise on a sliding scale every year to hit 80 per cent by 2030.
That pace of transition leaves Britain as an outlier compared to other countries, especially after the EU recently watered down its targets.
In 2024, the UK also missed its EV target, with market share of 19.6 per cent compared with a goal of 22 per cent. The gap was even wider in 2025.
SMMT boss Mike Hawes called for a review of the targets to be brought forward.
He said: ‘Whilst we don’t doubt the end goal, the question is how quickly we can get there.’
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