Sales of electric cars set to increase 61 per cent in 2022
Fri, 04 Feb 2022
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) is forecasting that sales of all-electric vehicles could reach 307,000 in 2022 - a 61 per cent increase on 2021's 190,727 sales.
Sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are also set to rise by 42 per cent to 163,000 (up from 114,554 in 2021).
That means that by the end of the year, almost a quarter of new cars could be either fully electric or plug-in hybrid.
In January 2022, sales of these cars accounted for one in five of the overall 115,087 new cars registered that month (14,433 electric cars were sold and 9,047 PHEVs).
EV demand 'surging' in used car market
There is also growing interest in electric vehicles in the used car market.
Chris Evans, head of sales at HonestJohn.co.uk's sister brand heycar, said that demand for electric vehicles is “surging”.
“We’ve seen views of electric cars up 127 per cent in January compared to the year before while the number of EV leads being sent to dealers has jumped by 74 per cent year on year,” he said.
However, public EV charging infrastucture must be developed "ahead of demand" for electric vehicles, according to the SMMT.
Disabled motoring groups also recently highlighted the need to improve accessibility of charging points and for the development of wireless EV charging alongside cable charging.
New car market to bounce back by 2023
Overall, the new car market was 27.5 per cent up on January 2021 when sales were affected by Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
However, the market remains well below pre-pandemic levels, due to the ongoing global shortage of semiconductors, which continues to affect supply.
The SMMT has revised its 2022 new car market forecast downward as a result of the semiconductor shortage, increasing costs of living and rising interest rates, which it expects to “dampen some demand” this year.
It predicts 1.89 million cars will be sold in 2022 (previously it predicted 1.96 million). This is 15.2 per cent more sales than in 2021 but still down by nearly a fifth (17.9 per cent) on pre-pandemic 2019 figures.
By 2023, however, the market is expected to bounce back to more than two million units for the first time since 2019.
What is the semiconductor shortage?
Since 2020 there has been a global shortage of semiconductors chips, which are used in all kinds of electronic devices from PCs to mobile phones, TVs and cars.
In modern cars, semiconductor chips power onboard safety systems, touchscreen infotainment and digital instrument displays.
Car makers that don’t have their own factories capable of producing the chips are having to wait for supply, and are likely to be at the back of the queue, behind the tech giants, leading to long wait times for new vehicles.
How many electric cars were sold in the UK in 2021?
190,727 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were sold in the UK in 2021.
How many plug-in hybrids were sold in the UK in 2021?
There were 114,554 sales of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in 2021.
Are electric cars getting more expensive?
What's the best electric car with a big boot?
