UK New Electric Car Registrations update August 2020

The Lack Of EVs In The SMMT Best Sellers (August 2020) List, Is A Reminder That EV Mass-Scale Adoption Is Still At Very Early Stages!

Electric Cars: The Basics

For those of you new to zero-emission electric driving, we recommend a read of the following articles:

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The Lack Of EVs In The SMMT Best Sellers (August 2020) List, Is A Reminder That EV Mass-Scale Adoption Is Still At Very Early Stages! Electric Cars: The Basics…

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The Lack Of EVs In The SMMT Best Sellers (August 2020) List, Is A Reminder That EV Mass-Scale Adoption Is Still At Very Early Stages! Electric Cars: The Basics…

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The Lack Of EVs In The SMMT Best Sellers (August 2020) List, Is A Reminder That EV Mass-Scale Adoption Is Still At Very Early Stages! Electric Cars: The Basics…

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Before moving onto the latest results i.e. the August 2020 new car registration update, let us briefly remind ourselves of the July 2020 registrations update.

Car Registrations SMMT — **Car Registrations: July 2020 (credit: SMMT)**

July 2020 witnessed a continued increase in the registration of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), despite a continued slowdown in the sales of petrol and diesel internal combustion engine (ICE) cars. Petrol new car registrations were up by just 0.3% in July 2020, compared to July 2019. Diesel performed worse, with a 25.9% decline. Diesel market share decreased from 24.7% to 16.5% in July 2020, compared to July 2019. Petrol market share declined from 64.3% to 58% in the same period.

BEV market share increased from 1.4% in July 2019 to 4.7% in July 2020. PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) also witnessed a similar increase from 1.1% in July 2019 to 4.3% in July 2020.

The August 2020 new car registrations update from The Society of Motor traders and Manufacturers (SMMT), is a continuation of the trend so far witnessed in 2020 i.e. diesel cars further declining in market share between August 2019 to August 2020 from 25.5% to 16.4%.

The same is the trend with petrol cars, witnessing a decline from 62.5% to 56.6% between August 2019 to August 2020. In terms of registrations, diesel registrations have declined by 39.5% in August 2020 compared to August 2019, with petrol registrations decreasing 14.7% in August 2020.

BEV market share increased from 3.4% in August 2019 to 6.4% in August 2020. PHEVs also witnessed a similar increase from 1.0% in August 2019 to 3.3% in August 2020.

Year-to-date the overall sector continues to face a challenging trading environment, with new car registrations down 39.7%. Despite the continued increase of sales of electric vehicles, absolute volumes remain small, with BEV and PHEV combined, new EV car sales are still below the 10% market share threshold.

Also, the lack of BEVs and PHEVs on the SMMT August 2020 Best Sellers list, is a firm reminder that the despite all the progress, the adoption of electric vehicles is still at a nascent stage.

This week celebrates the inaugural World EV Day, a day of not only celebration, but also a day of reflection, on what has been achieved to date, and what needs to be done, to enable mass-scale adoption of zero tailpipe emission electric cars.