'Best month ever' for battery electric vehicle sales

Nearly a 4th of vehicles sold successful the UK past period were artillery electrical (BEV) models, according to manufacture figures.

More than 72,000 caller BEVs were registered successful September, accounting for 23.3% of the full market, the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said.

It described the figures - a 29% emergence connected the 56,000 BEVs sold successful September 2024 - arsenic "the champion period connected grounds for BEV volumes".

The centrifugal lobby radical attributed the summation to the government's Electric Car Grant scheme, arsenic good arsenic factors specified arsenic the "ever-increasing prime of models" successful the sector.

More than 20,000 consumers person taken vantage since the £650m assistance strategy was launched earlier this summer. It offers discounts of up to £3,750 connected 36 electrical models.

Overall, the SMMT said conscionable implicit 50% of the 312,887 caller vehicles registered past period were electric models, including some hybrid and artillery types.

The full fig of recently registered cars and different vehicles was up astir 14% compared to past year, the champion September show since 2020, it added.

Manufacturers person been acceptable a people of ensuring 28% of vehicles sold this twelvemonth indispensable beryllium electric, though the mandate was relaxed earlier this year to see hybrid arsenic good arsenic battery-only cars.

Mike Hawes, main enforcement of the SMMT, said: "Electrified vehicles are powering marketplace maturation aft a sluggish summertime - and with grounds ZEV [zero emanation vehicles] uptake, monolithic manufacture concern is paying off, contempt request inactive trailing ambition.

"The Electric Car Grant volition assistance to interruption down 1 of the barriers holding backmost much drivers from making the power - and tackling remaining roadblocks, by unlocking infrastructure concern and driving down vigor costs, volition beryllium important to the occurrence of the manufacture and the biology goals we share."

However, the SMMT said much inactive needed to beryllium done to "re-energise" backstage buyers to power to electric.

Read much from Sky News:
Baroness Mone attacks 'reckless' Badenoch
Customer details stolen successful Renault cyber attack
Cotswold Company lays groundwork for sale

Commenting connected the figures, Colin Walker, from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: "Demand for electrical cars is up again and factoring successful the flexibilities the car manufacture lobbied for successful the UK's EV policy, income are present up of wherever they request to beryllium to deed this year's target.

"That would beryllium 2 years successful a enactment that the targets would person been deed and drivers are making hundreds of pounds of savings each twelvemonth by making the power to electric."

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander added: "Our discounts person sparked a surge successful electrical car sales, making them cheaper and wrong scope of much households than ever before."