Pro-EV Group Claims UK Adoption Spike

Greg Hyde

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18th January 2019

Go Ultra Low, a group promoting electric vehicle uptake, has published figures showing the UK EV and hybrid market grew by 19% in 2018 compared with 2017.

The group says 59,911 EVs and hybrids were registered in the UK last year, representing market growth of 19% from the previous year. It says this was the EV market’s “most successful year” to date and its “seventh consecutive year of growth”.

However, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show pure EVs still accounted for just 0.7% of the country’s automotive market and all “alternatively fueled vehicles” represented 6.0%. This compares with 31.7% for diesel vehicles and 62.3% for petrol vehicles. The latter category was worth just 53.4% a year earlier. Moreover, the SMMT’s figures show a 6.8% decline in new registrations during 2018 from 2017 across all vehicle types.

Transport Minister Jesse Norman claimed the data from Go Ultra Low showed his government’s Road to Zero strategy was helping the UK move “towards greener transport”. Go Ultra Low head Poppy Welch said she was “confident” 2019 would “be a landmark year for the nation’s switch to electric” but she did not say how this would happen despite a general trend for falling overall vehicle registrations.