RESPONDING to the SMMT’s data on November 2021 registration figures, Meryem Brassington (left), Electrification Propositions Lead at Lex Autolease said:
The rise of electric vehicle registrations has continued to make inroads in the new car market this year, with today’s figures taking the total number of EVs registered to more than 163,000 – already surpassing the 108,000 electric vehicles registered in 2020.
While the continued growth is encouraging, there’s still a long way to go to achieve the UK’s ambitious electrification plans, with charging infrastructure investment firmly at the top of the agenda. The government’s latest requirement to install charge points in new homes and buildings from next year is another welcome step in the right direction. By ensuring the product supply and supporting charge network is in place, we can continue to accelerate the transition towards a zero emission future.
Meryem Brassington‘s comments on the latest SMMT figures showed that the pure electric market share had doubled to nearly 19% compared with the same month last year, with 10.6% of the total market year-to-date. If the plug-in hybrid registrations are added to the battery electric vehicle registrations, then plug-ins have a 17.5% market share year-to-date compared with total diesel registrations of 14.7%.
Overall, new car registrations rose 1.7% in November, bringing an end to four months of consecutive decline. However, the SMMT pointed out that this is in comparison with a weak lockdown impacted November in 2020. Compared with the pre-pandemic average, the SMMT said that the market remained down significantly, with -31.3% fewer vehicles registered during the month.
Year-to-date, fleet registrations are at 49.6% of the total market.
Commenting on the latest figures, Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said:
What looks like a positive performance belies the underlying weakness of the market. Demand is there, with a slew of new, increasingly electrified, models launched but the global shortage of semiconductors continues to bedevil production and therefore new car registrations. The industry is working flat out to overcome these issues and fulfil orders, but disruption is likely to last into next year, compounding the need for customers to place orders early. The continued acceleration of electrified vehicle registrations is good for the industry, the consumer and the environment but, with the pace of public charging infrastructure struggling to keep up, we need swift action and binding public charger targets so that everyone can be part of the electric vehicle revolution, irrespective of where they live.
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