The UK’s roads will have one million battery-electric vehicles for the first time by next February.
That’s according to Cap HPI, which said that heading into October, there were almost 900,000 pure BEVs on UK roads and it now expects that figure to top a million in the next three months.
October’s new car market experienced a 14.3% growth, reaching 153,529 registrations.
That was 7.2% above 2019’s pre-pandemic levels, with 10,251 more units registered than four years ago and the best performance for an October since 2018, said the SMMT.
BEVs grew to 23,943, which was a 20.1.% year-to-date increase and 15.6% of the market share. It was also the 42nd month of growth in a row.
Plug-in hybrids increased by 14,285 (60.5%) in the month, taking a 9.3% share, while hybrid-electric vehicles rose by 19,574 (20.6%) for a share of 12.7%.
However, the massive 200% increase in BEV registrations of 2019-20 has yet to be repeated, say the valuation experts.
Matthew Freeman, managing consultant at Cap HPI, said: ‘October saw BEV uptake increasing for the 42nd successive month by 20.1% to 23,943 vehicles.
‘Taking into account overall market growth, this amounted to a BEV market share of 15.6% – a relatively small rise from last year’s figure of 14.8%.
‘BEV registrations are being driven mainly by the fleet sector, with private registrations accounting for fewer than one in four new BEVs this year.
‘This highlights the requirement for further incentives for private drivers.
‘However, we are predicting that February 2024 will see the milestone of one million BEVs on UK roads for the first time.’