UK: EV Sales Surged In December 2022, Tesla Takes #1 And #2 Spot

Rechargeable cars achieved a new record market share of over 39 percent.

Jan 08, 2023 at 11:54pm ET By: Mark Kane

In December, new passenger car registrations in the United Kingdom increased by 18 percent year-over-year to 128,462. It was the fifth consecutive month of growth, however, it was not enough to offset the previous declines, and the year 2022 closed with 1,614,063 units, 2 percent less than 2021.

Meanwhile, plug-in electric cars ended the year with a splash. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reports 50,651 new passenger plug-in car registrations in December (up 41 percent year-over-year). That’s one of the best results ever. Moreover, the market share increased significantly to a new record level of 39.4 percent.

The recent surge is mostly a result of the quickly growing all-electric car segment, which became the UK’s second most popular powertrain option after gasoline vehicles. In December, a record number of 42,284 BEVs were registered, which translated into a record market share of 32.9 percent.

Plug-in hybrids were not so lucky and with 8,367 units, they are actually struggling to see any growth.

Plug-in electric car registrations in the UK – December 2022

BEVs: 42,284 (up 53% year-over-year) at a market share of 32.9%
PHEVs: 8,367 (up 0.4% year-over-year) at a market share of 6.5%
Total: 50,651 (up 41% year-over-year) at a market share of 39.4%

In 2022, more than 368,000 new passenger plug-in cars were registered in the UK, reaching an average market share of 22.8%. Those are new record numbers, noticeably better than in 2021 (305,281 and 18.5% share).

New plug-in car registrations, year-to-date in 2022:

BEVs: 267,203 (up 40% year-over-year) at a market share of 16.6%
PHEVs: 101,414 (down 11% year-over-year) at a market share of 6.3%
Total: 368,617 (up 21% year-over-year) at a market share of 22.8%

If we look from a broader perspective, it seems that electrification progresses quite nicely over the last few years:

More details, including also other powertrain types:

Top models

One of the most spectacular achievements last month was that the Tesla Model Y and the Tesla Model 3 became the two most popular models with respectively 10,664 and 5,704 registrations. Not only that, the Nissan Leaf surprisingly entered the top 10 with 1,783 units (ninth place result).

Thanks to the strong end of the year, the Tesla Model Y significantly improved its position in 2022, taking third place overall (35,551 units).

The Tesla Model Y was also 2nd in November (9th YTD), 2nd in September (8th YTD), 2nd in June (10th YTD), and 1st in March (6th YTD).

Let’s recall that in 2021, the Tesla Model 3 was the top model in December (9,612) and the second best-selling model after 12 months (34,783). In other words, the Model Y simply repeated the achievement, while the Model 3 weakened this year (19,071 units).

In terms of all-electric cars, the most registered models were:

Tesla Model Y – 35,551
Tesla Model 3 – 19,071
Kia Niro EV (e-Niro) – 11,197
Volkswagen ID.3 – 9,832
Nissan Leaf – 9,178
Mini Cooper SE – 7,425
Polestar 2 – 7,345
MG 5 EV – 7,030
BMW i4 – 6,699
Audi Q4 e-tron – 6,594

LCVs

In the case of light commercial vehicles (LCV), some 21,825 were registered last month (down 26% year-over-year). Out of that, about 1,705 were all-electric (down 32%), which translated to a market share of 7.8%.

In 2022, 16,744 all-electric vans were registered, which is 31% more than a year ago and almost 6% of the total volume.

Opel’s Vauxhall reports that its e-LCV lineup (Combo Electric, Vivaro Electric, and Movano Electric) noted 5,038 sales in 2022, including 4,212 Vauxhall Vivaro Electric. This makes the brand the segment leader.