Deliveries of battery electric vans (BEVs) fell for a third month this year, down -16.8% on June last year to 1,476 units, according to the latest figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
As a result, in the year-to-date, BEVs account for just 4.7% of all new light van registrations compared with 5.2% for the same period last year. With manufacturers mandated to ensure zero emission vehicles comprise a minimum of 10% of their new van registrations this year, the SMMT said market share heading in the opposite direction is a cause for concern.
Overall, the UK new light commercial vehicle (LCV) market declined -4.5% to 33,066 units in June, ending a 17-month growth run. But despite the fall, the market has remained robust in the first half of the year – up by 4.5% with some 177,620 new vans, pick-ups and 4x4s registered in 2024, the best performance since 2021.
The SMMT said the scale of June’s decline is, in part, artificially inflated compared with 2023 – which saw the best June performance for four years as the industry met pent-up demand following Covid.
SMMT chief executive, Mike Hawes, said, “The best first half of a year since 2021 is great news for a market so intrinsic to economic growth, but this optimism will only continue if action is taken to re-energise zero emission van demand. A new government provides an opportunity to bolster the market with a strategy to grow the UK’s van-specific charging network at pace and maintain essential fiscal incentives to keep this vital market on track, without which our net zero ambitions will be at risk.”
