In September 2024, EVs continued to make significant market share gains while traditional petrol and diesel cars experienced further declines.
September 2024 Highlights: BEV Growth Outpaces Competitors
Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) continued their impressive growth, with sales up 24.4% compared to September 2023. A total of 56,387 BEVs were sold in September 2024, compared to 45,323 in the same month last year. This surge in demand for BEVs pushed their market share to 20.5%, a significant rise from 16.6% in 2023.
Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) also saw a strong increase, with sales rising by 32.1%. While not as dramatic as the BEV growth, this marks an increasing interest in hybrid options, which offer consumers the flexibility of electric driving with the backup of a petrol engine. The market share of PHEVs rose to 8.9%, up from 6.8% in 2023.
SMMT Electric Vehicle Data in Full
How Many EVs are there in the UK?
As of year-to-date 2024, there have been 269,931 Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) sold in the UK, showing a 13.2% increase from the previous year’s figures. Additionally, 124,943 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) have been sold, marking a 26.2% rise compared to 2023. Together, these figures indicate that the UK has added approximately 394,874 electric vehicles (both BEVs and PHEVs) to its roads in 2024 alone.
Diesel and Petrol Sales Slide
Conversely, sales of diesel and petrol vehicles continued to fall. Diesel sales dropped by 7.1%, with only 17,556 units sold in September 2024 compared to 18,892 the previous year. Petrol sales fared even worse, declining by 9.3%. This resulted in a market share reduction for petrol cars from 55.7% in September 2023 to 50.1% in 2024. The shift in consumer preferences is evident as traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles continue to lose ground to electric and hybrid alternatives.
Year-to-Date (YTD) Figures: EVs Continue to Gain Momentum
Looking at the year-to-date (YTD) numbers, the trend remains clear: the UK is steadily moving towards electrification. BEV sales have grown by 13.2% compared to the same period in 2023, with 269,931 units sold so far in 2024. This increase reflects a growing public acceptance of electric vehicles, buoyed by improvements in charging infrastructure, battery technology, and government incentives.
PHEV sales have performed even better in the year-to-date figures, with a 26.2% increase, indicating that a significant portion of consumers is still gravitating towards hybrid options as they transition from petrol and diesel.
In stark contrast, diesel sales have plummeted by 12.0%, with only 97,649 units sold year-to-date in 2024, compared to 110,935 in 2023. Similarly, petrol sales have dipped slightly, down by 0.8%, continuing the downward trajectory of ICE vehicle sales.
The data from September and the year-to-date figures paint a clear picture: electric cars are no longer a niche market. They are rapidly becoming the mainstream choice for UK drivers, while the future of petrol and diesel looks increasingly uncertain.
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John is the Editor and Spokesperson for Electric Car Guide.
With over 20 years of writing experience, he has written for titles such as City AM, FE News and NerdWallet.com, covering various automotive and personal finance topics.
John’s market commentary has been covered by the likes of The Express, The Independent, Yahoo Finance and The Evening Standard.
