UK: EV Sales Surged In December 2022

• by Kris Cook
• January 9, 2023
• 2 min read

Last month was a great month for EVs as far as sales and registrations go.

A lot of people made the switch right at the end of the year

Last month, new passenger car registrations in the UK increased by 18% year -on-year to 128,462, marking the fifth consecutive month of growth. As impressive as this was, it failed to meet previous declines, and the year ended with 1,614,063 units which is 2% less than 2021.

Plug-in electric vehicles, on the other hand, ended the year in style with 50,651 new registrations, according to The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) which is up 41% year-on-year.

What’s more, the market share increased significantly to set a new record level of 39.4%!

The recent surge is mostly a result of the quickly growing all-electric car segment, which became the UK’s second most popular powertrain option after traditional vehicles. In December, a record number of 42,284 BEVs were registered, which translated into a record market share of 32.9%.

Here’s a quick breakdown in much simpler terms:

• BEVs: 42,284 (up 53% year-over-year) at a market share of 32.9%
• PHEVs: 8,367 (up 0.4% year-over-year) at a market share of 6.5%
• Total: 50,651 (up 41% year-over-year) at a market share of 39.4%

Having looked at the data, it’s safe to say that the market share is on the rise and has shown a steady increase when you look at sales from previous years leading into this one.

In terms of all-electric cars, the most registered models were:

• Tesla Model Y – 35,551
• Tesla Model 3 – 19,071
• Kia Niro EV (e-Niro) – 11,197
• Volkswagen ID.3 – 9,832
• Nissan Leaf – 9,178
• Mini Cooper SE – 7,425
• Polestar 2 – 7,345
• MG 5 EV – 7,030
• BMW i4 – 6,699
• Audi Q4 e-tron – 6,594

The Nissan Leaf making this list is just as impressive as the two Tesla vehicles sitting at the top when you consider how long its been going, and how much competition it’s shrugged off.

In the case of light commercial vehicles (LCV), around 21,825 were registered last month (down 26% year-over-year). Out of that, about 1,705 were all-electric (down 32%), which translated to a market share of 7.8%.

In 2022, 16,744 all-electric vans were registered, which is 31% more than a year ago and almost 6% of the total volume.

Did you register or purchase a new electric vehicle in the month of December 2022? If so, welcome to the wide and wonderful world of sustainable vehicles.

Kris Cook

Hey, I’m Kris, a Junior Content Strategist at E4TP. At the moment I live in the world of EVs, keeping up on current trends in the space, and delivering quality content. I’m a creative type both inside and outside of work, in that I write poetry in my spare time, design independent zines, and paint. When I’m not knee deep in any of that, I collect vinyl (my collection has around 150 LPs in it), and enjoy spending time with pals outdoors, mostly on a bike — or in another country.

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