A quarter of all new cars registered in February were electric, official figures reveal.
A total of 84,054 new cars were registered in the UK last month, with the 21,244 new EVs sold making up 25.1% of the market, and marking a 41.7% growth on the same month last year.
Despite this, February’s registration figures were down 1% overall, with fleet sales dropping 4%, although the smaller private sector was up 4.6%.
The increase in EV sales is thought to be due to buyers seeking to escape tax changes coming in April, which will see electric cars subject to the ‘expensive car supplement’ (ECS) element of road tax. EVs had previously been exempt from this, but from April all cars costing £40,000 or more (including options) will attract this levy, adding an additional £425 a year to an EV’s tax from years two to six of its life, for a total additional cost of £2,125.
In 2024 as a whole just one in 10 private buyers chose an EV, but February’s figures reveal this proportion doubled, with 20.6% of all EVs going to consumers, against 79.4% to fleets and businesses.
The Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), which compiles registration data, called April’s forthcoming changes to the road-tax regime “punitive”, and said they risk “disincentivising” drivers from switching to electric. The SMMT highlights that due to the extra costs EVs entail compared to their petrol and diesel counterparts, the cars are more likely to breach the £40,000 barrier and attract the ECS levy.
Car makers are legally obligated to ensure 28% of all the cars they sell in 2025 are electric, so despite the rise in EV popularity, if February’s proportions continue firms risk fines of £15,000 per car over quota. Last year, 19.6% of new cars sold were electric, against a target of 22%, but it is believed that no manufacturers were fined due “flexibilities” in the scheme, such as the ability to buy “credits” from car makers who exceeded their EV targets.
February’s market in general was driven by fleet buyers, who made up 62.4% of all registrations; salary sacrifice cars, and those issued under the Motability scheme, fall into that category. Private motorists registered just 35.8% of cars last month, with sales to businesses making up the remainder of sales.
Diesel cars, which once comprised almost half of the new-car market, are now a shadow of their former selves, encompassing just 5% of registrations. Petrol’s prominence continues with 47.4% of registrations, though this was down from 56.8% in February 2024. Hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars were chosen by one in five drivers, with sales remaining largely stable over last year.
Sue Robinson, chief executive of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA), highlighted that February’s 1% market fall was “the fifth consecutive month of contraction”, but added: “Next month’s figures will see the added impetus of March being a plate change month, which should provide a boost to the market.”
Meanwhile, electric vans weighing up to 4.25 tonnes rose in popularity compared to February 2024, with the 1,413 units registered representing a 9.7% increase – although these vehicles made up just 9.7% of the market, against a mandate that electric vans must comprise 16% of registrations in 2025 as a whole.
