Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accounted for 19.6% of UK new car registrations in 2024, or 381,970 units, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reported on 6 January 2025. That was up by 67,283 units on 2023 but short of the 22% demanded by the zero emission vehicle mandate in its first year1.
The overall new car market reached 1,952,778 units in 2024, a rise of 2.6% on the previous year. December registrations were flat at 140,786 units, a marginal -0.2% decline, but BEVs took 31.0% of that month's market with 43,656 registrations, the highest monthly share since December 2022's record 32.9%1.
Full year 2024 registrations by powertrain:
| Powertrain | 2024 units | 2023 units | Change | 2024 market share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEV | 381,970 | 314,687 | 21.4% | 19.6% |
| PHEV | 167,178 | 141,311 | 18.3% | 8.6% |
| HEV | 261,398 | 238,411 | 9.6% | 13.4% |
| Petrol | 1,019,128 | 1,066,211 | -4.4% | 52.2% |
| Diesel | 123,104 | 142,434 | -13.6% | 6.3% |
Growth came entirely from fleets, which rose 11.8% to 1,163,855 units and accounted for a record 59.6% of registrations. Private buyer registrations fell 8.7% to 746,276 units, fewer than in 2020, when social distancing restrictions shut the market for three months. The business sector fell 3.1% to 42,647 units1.
SMMT said only one in 10 private buyers chose an electric vehicle in 2024, with petrol the most popular powertrain among them at 61.0% of demand and hybrids second at 16.0%. Around 64,000 more BEVs were registered by businesses and fleets than a year earlier, representing 25.4% of those segments' registrations1.
"BEVs made up 19.6% of the market (381,970 units) in 2024, up by more than a fifth (67,283 units) from last year, but short of the 22% demanded by the mandate."
SMMT said manufacturer discounting totalled more than £4.5 billion in 2024, an amount it described as not sustainable in the long term, and that 132 zero emission models were on the UK market, up 38% since 2023, with an average range of almost 280 miles. Average new car CO2 fell 6.2% to 102.1g/km1.
Why it matters for households
The mandate sets a rising share of each manufacturer's sales that must be zero emission, and the 2024 shortfall was concentrated in the private market rather than fleets. Private buyers, who pay for their own cars rather than through company arrangements, bought roughly 746,276 new cars last year, and only about one in 10 of those was electric1. That gap between fleet uptake and private uptake is the practical backdrop to household decisions about switching a home's car to electric, and to what charging a car at home requires. The rules covering home charge points, including the smart charge point regulations, apply to the equipment installed at a property, while the wider question of public charging availability is covered in the site's EV charging pages.
SMMT also said the extent to which lower average CO2 will help manufacturers comply will remain unclear until confirmed baseline CO2 figures are provided by government, and that meeting the 2025 threshold of 28% will require an EV market uplift of just under 50%1.
What happens next
The 2025 mandate target is 28%, up from 22% in 20241. SMMT said the 2024 BEV market was forecast to be almost 20%, or some 75,000 units, larger than has eventuated when the previous government drew up the mandate, and called for the regulation to be amended to reflect a constrained market, for government action to stimulate private demand, and for chargepoint operators to accelerate rollout1. No date has been reported for the outcome of the regulatory review.