Road users demand for battery electric vehicles rose by 185.9% in 2020, with 108,205 new registrations. Sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles hit 66,877, an increase of 91.2%.
The SMMT said that combined, battery and plug-in hybrid electric cars accounted for more than one in 10 registrations up from around one in 30 in 2019.
According to the industry group, British consumers can now choose from over 100 plug-in car models, with manufacturers due to bring more than 35 to market in 2021 more than the number of either petrol or diesel new models planned for the year.
Work still needs to be done for electric vehicles to catch up and compete with models based on the internal combustion engine, however. Despite sales of gas-powered cars dropping by 39% last year, they still enjoyed a market share of 55.4%, while the market share for diesel cars was 16%.
UK reports biggest drop in new car sales since Second World War
06 Jan 2021 New and used cars at a dealership in Woking, UK. File/Agence France-Presse British new car sales fell nearly 30% last year in their biggest annual drop since 1943 as lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus hit the sector, an industry body said on Wednesday.
Demand stood at 1.63 million cars in 2020, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). It was particularly hard hit by a 97% fall in April, the first full month of a national lockdown.
Dealerships gradually reopened in June on differing dates across the United Kingdom’s four nations.
Figures show fall in new car sales last year
New car sales fell by around 29% on 2019, the biggest year-on-year decline since 1943.
New car registrations dropped to just over 1.6 million (Image: Getty Images)
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Alex Buttle, spokesperson for Motorway.co.uk said: “Healthy electric car registrations are once again a beacon of hope.
“The green car revolution gathered pace in 2020 as electric and hybrid vehicle registrations surpassed diesel sales for the first year ever. Just over 285,000 new battery and hybrid EVs were sold in 2020 vs 261,772 diesels, compared to more than half a million diesels sold in 2019 vs 171,000 battery and hybrid EVs.”
The bumper sales figures were released after a year of progress for the electric car industry.
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The government has confirmed a sales ban on petrol and diesel cars will be introduced from 2030 pushing manufacturers towards electric car development.