Electric car sales were up in April and for the year-to-date in outright numbers, compared to the same times last year, however, in market share the rate of sales is below the total for last year.
Electric cars accounted for 15.4% of the new car market in the first four months of this year, however, over the whole of 2022, they accounted for 16.6% of the market. Electricity remains the second most popular fuel type, comfortably ahead of diesel, but still some way off petrol (including hybrids, but not plug-in hybrids) with a 70% share of the market.
Total new car registrations of all fuel types were up 11.6% in April pushing the year-to-date figure up 16.9% on the same time last year.
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The tail lamps have been redesigned The SMMT, which collates the official figures, has increased its overall forecast for UK new car sales in 2023 to 1.83 million on the back of increasing supply, but has decreased its expectations for the electric car share from 19.7% to 18.4%.
The company car sector, which accounts for the majority of electric car sales, is up by more than a third this year, while private buyer sector has seen a fall of almost 1%.
Several dealers Electrifying.com spoke to said that while supply was improving, there were still issues particularly around the clarity of delivery times with some orders arriving earlier than expected and others not arriving on time. One dealer said this had the impact of “confusing customers and making customer satisfaction harder to maintain”.
A few retailers also said that new car orders were coming in at a rate similar to deliveries and their outlook for the year was positive.
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Vauxhall's Corsa led the charge for electric in April 
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The tail lamps have been redesigned 
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