Electric Vehicle sales in UK reach highest ever mark in H1-2016

The United Kingdom saw the sale of 106 electric vehicles every day in the first half of 2016, that equals a rate of four electric cars every hour! In total 19,252 plug-in cars hit UK roads during the first six months of the year, 4,640 units ahead of the same period last year. It is also three months ahead of last year when it took until September to achieve this volume.

As per Go Ultra Low statistics, the year-to-date sales of EVs in 2016 went up by 31.8% versus the first six months of 2015. Moreover, the April to June period marks the 22^nd quarterly rise of EV sales in the country. The second quarter of 2016 saw 38% more EVs sold compared to the same period last year, building on a 27.4% pick-up in the first quarter.

The bumper start to 2016 pushes sales volumes close to 70,000 units since the UK government introduced its Plug-in Car Grant in January 2011. The rapid rise in sales shows that more UK citizens than ever are realising the benefits of going electric. The Plug-in Car Grant allows customers to cover 35% of the cost of a car, up to a maximum of either £2,500 or £4,500 depending on the model; and 20% of the cost of a van, up to a maximum of £8,000.

Commenting on the figures, Transport Minister Andrew Jones, said: “I am delighted to see record numbers of motorists coming round to the benefits of cleaner, greener vehicles, which are also cheaper to run.  The low-emission sector supports over 18,000 UK jobs and is a key pillar in our ambition for a low carbon, high tech and high skills economy. We want to make the UK a world leader in electric vehicle uptake and manufacture, to ensure that by 2050 every car and van on our roads is a zero emission vehicle. We are backing this with one of the most comprehensive support packages in the world, with more than £600m of government investment to help grow the UK market.”

March 2016 was the best-ever month for electric car uptake when, boosted by a registration plate change, there were 7,440 registrations. June recorded the year’s second highest volume of 3,196 new cars registered, up 23% year-on-year. These strong numbers support the fact that the first six months of 2016 were the highest-volume half-year ever for electric car sales.

Of the vehicles that have made up the continually-improving figures for the first half of the year, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV proved most popular with 5,738 of the plug-in SUV rolling on to UK roads. The Nissan LEAF remains the most popular pure-electric car with 2,336 first-half sales in 2016.

Poppy Welch, Head of Go Ultra Low commented: “The continued growth in uptake of electric cars speaks for itself as registration records continue to be broken by motorists encouraged by the benefits electric motoring can bring. As awareness grows and motorists see the wide variety of vehicles already on UK roads coupled with benefits such as running costs from as little as 2p per mile, more drivers than ever are becoming motivated to go green. Since the introduction of the Plug-In Car Grant was introduced in 2011 the variety of electric models has expanded significantly, notably so in the past two years, giving motorists more choice than ever before.”

You may like:

- UK to have more EV charging stations than fuel stations by 2020

- Q1-2016 electric vehicle sales in the UK

- One in five new car buyers in the UK have an electric car mindset