Nearly 100,000 UK BEVs Registered 2020, Lobbyist Claims

Paul Myles

TU-Editor

28th January 2020

EV lobbyists are predicting a three-fold increase in UK BEV take-up this year driven by government cash handouts.

The EV leasing company DriveElectric claims its forecast will see just under 100,000 new BEVs hit UK roads this year. That’s a bold claim considering there were just 37,850 registered last year against a total of 2.31M registrations. Also the automotive industry is in the doldrums owing to economic uncertainty not least with the unknown fate of the nation’s carmakers who look set to jump-ship in the likely event of a no-deal Brexit agreement with Europe.

Nonetheless, the company says its prediction model is based on several incentives facing the prospective BEV buyer this year, including:

Changes to UK business car tax, Benefit in Kind (BIK), which is cut to zero on pure electric cars from April 2020 for a period of 12 months;
A continuing trend for employees choosing a company car rather than taking an allowance, according to the lease company;
Increased availability of electric cars in 2020 compared to 2019, with a number of manufacturers are entering the market with new BEVs, for example PSA Group predicting a volume of 12,000 units.
Increasing numbers of initiatives such as city clean air zones are resulting in organizations considering future-proofing fleets with EVs rather than petrol or diesel vehicles.

— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in London. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_

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