New figures are out today from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) and Zap-Map, detailing both new car registrations as well as the growth of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for the month of August.
With overall sales of new cars growing by 1.2% compared to August 2021, new registrations of pure-electric cars showed a far stronger year-on-year increase of 35.4%. Indeed, pure-electric cars – also known as battery-electric cars, or BEVs – were one of only two vehicle types in August to increase sales year on year.
However, it wasn’t only electric cars that showed an increase last month. New EV charging statistics from Zap-Map show that there were almost 34,000 total charging devices across the UK at the end of August. Certain areas have shown particularly impressive growth, such as ultra-rapid charging devices, which have seen a 75% increase since August last year.
The Zap-Map graph below shows the number of new battery-electric cars registered each month over the the past 13 months.
August 2022 saw a total of 13,890 new plug-in car registrations, comprising 10,006 BEVs and 3,884 PHEVs.
This takes the cumulative total of plug-in cars on UK roads – as of the end of August – to over 940,000. That total comprises over 530,000 BEVs and more than 410,000 PHEVs.
The chart above displays the cumulative number of battery-electric cars in the UK since 2016.
So far in 2022, over 137,000 BEVs have been sold in the UK, alongside more than 61,000 PHEVs.
Last month’s sales saw plug-in cars take 20.1% of market share, with BEVs accounting for 14.5% of overall car sales in August.
This means that plug-in cars currently represent 20.3% of market share in 2022, with BEVs at 14% and PHEVs at 6.3%.
While no pure-electric car entered the top ten last month, the latest EV charging statistics from Zap-Map show that 1,594 new charging devices were installed across the country in August. This brings the UK total to 33,996 devices, across 20,534 locations. It also represents a 34% increase in the number of charging devices since August 2021.
Furthermore, last month saw 218 new rapid and ultra-rapid charging devices installed, bringing the total to 6,236. This includes an increase of 75% in the number of ultra-rapid devices – capable of adding from 70 miles in as little as 15 minutes – since August last year.
Looking ahead, on-street charging provider Trojan Energy has been chosen by Barnet Council to deliver an innovative EV charging scheme in the London borough, while Osprey is to provide rapid charging points at British Garden Centres.
