UK car sales plunge but electric vehicles soar to record amid fuel crisis
By Sourced Externally
October 5, 2021
Global chip shortage helps push car registrations to lowest level for more than two decades
The number of electric cars sold in the UK last month neared the figures for the whole of 2019, with panic-buying at the petrol pumps expected to accelerate consumer appetite to switch to cleaner vehicles.
Nearly 33,000 pure electric cars were registered in a record month for EVs, almost 50% more than last year, as sales of new cars otherwise tumbled to the weakest September total for more than two decades.
Numbers were a third down from even last September, when Covid-19 restrictions were dampening the buying and selling of cars, and down almost 45% compared with the 10-year average before the pandemic.
September is normally the second-busiest month of the year for the industry. Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said the headline figures were “desperately disappointing” and further evidence of the impact that the shortage of semiconductors, especially from Asia, was having on the industry.
Battery-powered cars took a record slice of the new car market in a month that ended with fuel supply issues dominating the news, as motorists struggled to find petrol or diesel to fill their tanks. About 15% of new cars sold were pure electric, up from 11% in August, with almost 7,000 Tesla Model 3 vehicles alone joining Britain’s roads as the bestselling EV.
With long lead times for most EV deliveries, analysts said it was too soon for the impact of the fuel crisis to show up in sales. However, Jamie Hamilton, automotive director at Deloitte, added: “The inconvenience of long queues and empty pumps has jump-started many motorists to explore the switch to electric.”
Car retail websites such as Auto Trader reported surging interest in electric cars after 24 September, when news that the shortage of lorry and tanker drivers was affecting forecourt fuel supplies led to widespread panic-buying at the pumps.
James Fairclough, the chief executive of AA Cars, said: “For those already thinking of going electric, the sight of electric vehicle drivers breezing past long queues at service stations during September’s fuel crisis may have been a clincher.”
Hawes called on the government to step up investment in charging points. “The rocketing uptake of plug-in vehicles, especially battery electric cars, demonstrates the increasing demand for these new technologies,” he said.
September is normally the second-busiest month of the year for the industry. Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said the headline figures were “desperately disappointing” and further evidence of the impact that the shortage of semiconductors, especially from Asia, was having on the industry.
Battery-powered cars took a record slice of the new car market in a month that ended with fuel supply issues dominating the news, as motorists struggled to find petrol or diesel to fill their tanks. About 15% of new cars sold were pure electric, up from 11% in August, with almost 7,000 Tesla Model 3 vehicles alone joining Britain’s roads as the bestselling EV.
