An electric car lobby group says “biased” sales data is undermining the level of demand for electric vehicles in Britain.
Electric Vehicles UK, a campaign group formed to dispel “myths and lies” around the electric car market, said reports on registration figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders had downplayed the level of private demand for battery powered cars.
It comes just days after the SMMT and 13 vehicle manufacturers wrote to the Chancellor calling for a new wave of incentives in the Budget to cut the price of new electric vehicles in an effort to revitalize sales.
Electric vehicle campaigners have said sales data released monthly does not show true demand for electric cars among private buyers.
In its September records update, the SMMT said: “Demand for private battery electric vehicles increased by 3.6 percent after unprecedented discounts by manufacturers, but this amounted to only 410 additional registrations.
“Consumer demand for diesel grew at a faster pace, increasing 17.1 percent in September, a volume increase of 1,367 units.”
He later added: ‘BEV private so far this year (Battery electric vehicle) demand continues to decline by 6.3 percent, underscoring the magnitude of the challenge of moving the mass market to meet established objectives that were conceived in very different economic, geopolitical and market conditions.
“Previous assumptions of a market offering steady BEV growth, cheaper and more abundant raw materials, affordable energy and low interest rates have not been realized, and the initial cost of BEV models remains stubbornly high.”
While the SMMT’s statements would indicate that private demand for electric vehicles is accelerating more slowly than that for diesel, the industry representative has admitted that the way it reports sales data does not present the full picture of appetite for the vehicles. battery powered cars.
The problem lies in how registrations are grouped into “private”, “fleet” and “company” sales, the three types of vehicle sales registered by the SMMT.
In its September registrations update, the SMMT said consumer demand for new diesel cars “grew at a faster rate” than for petrol models.
The main driving force behind current electric car registrations are “wage sacrifice” schemes.
An electric vehicle salary sacrifice plan is an agreement in which an employee agrees to give up part of their pre-tax salary in exchange for their employer renting them an electric vehicle.
The employer then deducts the monthly cost of leasing from the employee’s salary, making it a much more affordable option to switch to a battery-powered car.
However, these sales, despite being decisions made by private consumers, are classified as fleet registrations and not “private” driver purchases.
Responding to an accusation of using distorted data, the SMMT’s official channel measure the numbers precisely.
Electric Vehicles UK says the true scale of demand for electric vehicles is shown in figures on total sales across the private, fleet and commercial markets.
Records show that across all three registration routes in September, electric vehicles increased 24 percent to a monthly record of more than 56,300 units. This represents one in five (20 percent) of all new models that hit the road last month.
In comparison, diesel sales hit a record low, falling another 7 percent year-on-year with just 17,500 diesel burners purchased, representing approximately just one in 16 (6.4 percent) new cars.
As the SMMT registration data shows, sales of diesel passenger cars fell by 7.1% in September and will decline by 12% in 2024 as a whole.
The electric vehicle lobby said the trade body’s presentation of the data is a “misrepresentation of the figures that ignores the progress carmakers have made, is deterring consumers from switching to electric vehicles and giving policy makers the impression that the transition is not working. .
Andy Palmer, former boss of Aston Martin and Nissan (where it launched the UK’s first best-selling assembled electric vehicle, the Leaf) and now spokesman for Electric Vehicles UK, said: “The September figures show the electric vehicle market of the United Kingdom”. It is now growing faster than in France or Germany.
“Diesel market share has decreased in the month, while registrations of battery electric vehicles, hybrids and plug-in hybrids have increased.”
Dan Caesar, managing director of EVUK, added: “The SMMT’s September statistics update, which should have been a moment of celebration with a record volume of electric vehicles sold in the UK, was recast using biased statistics as a victory for diesel cars in worrying trend in reports.’
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the trade industry body, has said “unsustainable” industry-driven price cuts to promote electric car sales had been propping up the EV market into 2024.
He added: ‘Despite this support, the market is still not moving at the pace that industry, government and society need.
‘The glaring lack of government support for the private buyer is limiting demand, so other older, more polluting technologies continue to outperform electric cars. This is not a “victory.”
Colin Walker, head of transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, also commented on the SMMT’s presentation on private sales of electric vehicles, saying any notion they were in decline was “completely false” and “based on some carefully selected data.
Ben Nelmes, chief executive of independent transportation research organization New AutoMotive, described September’s electric vehicle market as “full of life.”
And he added: «Electric car registrations grew by almost a quarter in September, with one in five new cars being an electric vehicle. It’s great to see more people than ever switching to cleaner, more economical driving.
‘Sensible government policy is driving a huge emerging success story in Britain, where electric car registrations are outpacing the rest of Europe.
“We are in a global race to put electric vehicles on the roads and Britain is taking the fast track.”
Despite the optimistic outlook for electric vehicle demand, the SMMT and the bosses of 13 major manufacturers recently wrote to the Chancellor calling for a new wave of incentives to boost sales of turbo electric cars.
In a letter to Rachel Reeves ahead of the budget, car giants including BMW, Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen said government targets are putting too much pressure on the industry at a time when private demand for electric vehicles is flagging.
Executives called for the introduction of new subsidies to boost sales as many car companies are lagging behind the Government’s binding requirements for zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).
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