Sales of new electric cars are up 49% so far this year.
The trial’s registration numbers show that 9,303 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) were registered in the first quarter. That compares to just 6,235 for the corresponding period in 2022.
And last month’s SIMI figures show that 3,421 new BEVs were registered, compared to 1,924 for March 2022, underlining the consistently rising sales increases each month.
Such steady growth means that electric vehicles accounted for 16% of new cars registered for the first quarter of 2023 as BEVs, hybrids (20.6%) and plug-ins (8%) steadily increased market share .
For now, petrol remains the dominant fuel source (32.6 percent) and diesel is drifting to a market share of 22.8 percent, but the momentum is with the combined ‘electrified’ vehicles.
However, the past month saw a big increase in all sales, with the market rising 37 percent (to 17,676) compared to March 2022 (12,907).
So far this year registrations are up 16.5% (58,116) compared to last year (49,905).
Brian Cooke, director general of SIMI, said the increase in registrations for March indicates “a strong performing market”, but pointed out that part of this increase is due to the backlog of orders since the start of the year. year.
And while the March market means Q1 sales of 58,116 are 16 percent higher than last year, they’re still 9 percent behind pre-Covid sales in 2019.
Mr Cooke said the government’s temporary change to the benefits-in-kind regime for the current year will boost the BEV commercial vehicle market. He said it was “vital” for this increased threshold to be extended beyond this year.
On the other hand, the decision to reduce the electric car subsidy for the July registration period is “extremely disappointing” at this still relatively early stage of the EV project, Mr Cooke said.
But he said it was important to highlight that in addition to the subsidy support, there is still a VRT deduction for many BEVs, as well as a low annual road tax.
Together with the home charger subsidy, there is still a strong package of incentives for those considering the purchase of an electric vehicle, he claimed.
Elsewhere, used imports rose 23.9% last month (to 4,699), pushing numbers up 7% year-to-date to 12,474.
Light commercial vehicles are up 71.4% (3,453), which is a realistic sign of a thriving economy.
The Top 5 selling brands in order are Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Skoda and Kia.
The Top models are the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Toyota Yaris Cross, Toyota C-HR and the Toyota Corolla.
And the best selling BEVs were the Volkswagen ID.4, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Tesla Model Y, Skoda ENYAQ and Hyundai Kona.