Eye-popping new data just out for UK car sales in Sep20

new record for BEVs, up 3x in a yr & 7x since 2016
>10% of cars now come with a plug
just 2/3 are conventional cars (cf 98% in 2015)
overall sales down ~40% since 2017 peak

THREAD with my analysis of @SMMT data

More than 10% of UK new car sales now come with a plug ie pure EVs or plug-in hybrids

With the rise of hybrids, now at a record 21% of sales, that means only ~2/3 of new cars sold in the UK today are conventional petrol or diesel, down from around 98% just five years ago (!)

Remarkably, diesels now make up just 14% of UK new car sales, down from around 50% in 2015

Overall UK car sales are also at their lowest level for (probably*) at least a couple of decades

Monthly avg sales are down ~40% since a peak in 2017

(Obviously a lot of that is Covid but sales were falling already)

* SMMT says Sep 2020 was lowest for the month since 1999

UK pure EV sales are up 664% since 2016 and diesels are down 75% over the same period

Now, sure, EV sales are still much lower than conventional cars, but given the pace of change it's pretty clear which way things are going

(chart shows 12-mth rolling avg monthly sales, so ~7,000 for BEVs vs 22,000 sold in September)

Here's the latest @SMMT release.

(It would be *lovely* if they would publish the figures in a spreadsheet rather than a table within an image…) https://www.smmt.co.uk/2020/10/new-car-registrations-drop-4-4-in-weakest-ever-new-plate-september/