Electric vehicles continue to grow in popularity, with data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealing that plug-in cars made up 28.1% of the market in November.
Of the 115,706 new cars registered in November 2021, 21,726 were battery electric vehicles (BEV), while 10,796 were plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). This has increased from November 2020, when 10,345 BEVs and 7,727 PHEVs were registered, from a total of 113,781 new cars.
On a year-to-date basis, 17.5% of the 1,538,585 cars that have been registered have been either BEVs or PHEVs – this figure increases to 26.5% when including hybrid electric vehicles too.
However, these stats have led to the SMMT calling for infrastructure to start catching up with vehicle sales. For instance, there is only one on-street public charger available for every 52 new plug-in cars that have been registered throughout the year.
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said: “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.”
RAC director of EVs Sarah Winward-Kotecha commented: “It seems certain that 2021 will go down on record as a stellar year for the electric car revolution, with upwards of 50% more sold compared to the whole of 2020.”
“With such clear demand among fleets and private drivers for new EVs, we’ll sadly never know just how many more might have been registered last month had it not been for the problems manufacturers are encountering with sourcing semiconductors. The new registration figures once again emphasise the importance of a fit-for-purpose public charging network that grows in line with the rise in EVs so that mid-trip charging is never a problem. Next year we’ll almost certainly surpass one million electric cars on the roads which will further heighten the need for fast and efficient charging away from home.”
Image courtesy of Getty Images / iStockphoto
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The new registration figures once again emphasise the importance of a fit-for-purpose public charging network that grows in line with the rise in EVs so that mid-trip charging is never a problem