Battery EV sales double year-on-year in November, SMMT finds

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attery electric vehicles (BEVs) saw their market share grow to 18.8% of total car sales in November, more than double that of November 2020, new data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has found.

In the wider market, new car registrations were up 1.7% in the month, marking an end to four consecutive months of decline. However, lockdowns in 2020 severely impacted registrations. When compared to the pre-pandemic average, the market remains down significantly, with 31.3% fewer vehicles registered during the month.

Year-to-date, 1,538,585 new cars have been registered, of which 17.5% have been battery or PHEVs, meaning one in six new cars is capable of being plugged in. When combined with hybrid electric vehicles (9.0% share), more than a quarter (26.5%) of the new car market during 2021 has been electrified.

Despite this uptake in demand for plug-in vehicles, SMMT analysis this month revealed that the pace of on-street public charging infrastructure rollout is lagging, with the number of battery plug-in cars potentially sharing a public on-street charger deteriorating from 11 to 16 between 2019 and 2020 and just one standard on-street public charger installed for every 52 new plug-in cars registered over the course of this year.

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.”