Over the last year, there has been a considerable increase in registered battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) in the UK. The overall BEV market share has grown from 0.9% to an impressive 3.8% (54,016) and the demand for PHEVs has seen an increase too, with a market share increase from 1.2% to 2.8% (44.968).

In April 2020, with the turbulence of Covid-19 and traditional car sales plummeting, BEV registrations composed almost a third of all new car registrations (compared to 4.6% the previous month).

Will Craig, founder of LeaseFetcher (www.leasefetcher.co.uk), an on-line vehicle leasing comparison platform, said: “I think people are coming around to the idea that BEVs are better investments than conventional cars. With aggressive Government regulations and zero-emission plans in the near future, throwing a lot of money at diesel and petrol-guzzling vehicles doesn’t have the same appeal as it used to five years ago.”

The electric vehicle industry is moving very fast with the demand for BEVs and PHEVs on the rise. Registrations have increased consistently over the previous decade and are forecast to continue to accelerate in the next few years with new legislation coming into place and electric vehicle affordability improving.

According to the latest data from the Department of Transport, pure electric vehicles are now starting to outpace hybrids. In 2018, 15,800 new battery electric vehicles and 42,200 plug-in hybrid vehicles were registered. However, in 2019, this was a very different story, with 39,850 new BEV and 34,734 plug-in PHEVs registered.

With demand on the rise, which is the UK’s favourite electric car? According to the Department of Transport, unsurprisingly, Tesla is the most popular car brand for EVs. It secured three coveted spots on the top 10 most-popular EVs in 2019 leaderboard: Tesla Model 3 (1st place, 10,649 vehicles), Tesla Model X (7th place, 1,284 vehicles) and Tesla Model S (8th place, 1,231 vehicles).

The top 10 most popular EV models (2019):
1. Tesla Model 3 - 10,649 vehicles
2. Nissan Leaf - 5,280 vehicles
3. BMW I3 - 4,343 vehicles
4. Jaguar I-PACE - 4,195 vehicles
5. Volkswagen Golf - 3,835 vehicles
6. Renault Zoe - 2,380 vehicles
7. Tesla Model X - 1,284 vehicles
8. Tesla Model S - 1,231 vehicles
9. Kia Niro - 681 vehicles
10. Hyundai Ioniq - 473 vehicles

Mr Craig added: “Tesla has the advantage right now. It has well-established supply chains, brand awareness, and years of R&D in the bag, but other manufacturers are catching up fast. Traditional best-selling models are being introduced in alternative fuel versions, such as the VW e-Golf which is already listed in the top 10 most popular EV models.

“Electric cars are the future and I expect to see them become more affordable and widespread in the coming years.“

He concluded: “With the coronavirus putting a halt to most vehicle sales, the growth over coming months will likely be limited. Once things start slowly going back to ‘new normal’ and faith in the economy is restored — it will be very interesting to see how demand for electric vehicles flourishes.”