Electric cars claim record 27.3% of UK market as new car sales enjoy strongest May since 2019
Battery electric vehicles claimed their largest slice of the UK new car market so far this year in May, taking a record 27.3% share as the wider market posted its strongest performance for the month since 2019.
BEV registrations surged 34.2% year on year, comfortably outpacing an overall market that grew 7.1% to 160,662 units, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). While May’s total remains 12.6% adrift of pre-pandemic levels, the direction of travel is unmistakable: electrified vehicles are doing the heavy lifting.
It was private buyers who powered the headline growth, with retail registrations up 17.2% as consumers responded to increasingly competitive offers from an unprecedented spread of brands and a 6.4% increase in model choice, including a 25.6% rise in BEV products year to date. Fleet demand edged up a more modest 1.8%, though it still accounted for more than half (57.1%) of all registrations, while the smaller business sector fell 18.8%, a drop of just 720 units in volume terms.
The gradual reshaping of the market continued apace. Petrol registrations fell 7.1% and diesel slipped 2.2%, while hybrids grew 1.8% and plug-in hybrids jumped 23.9% to take an enlarged 13.8% share. The BEV performance builds on momentum seen in March, when electric registrations hit an all-time high of 86,120 units, and follows confirmation in April that there are now more than two million fully electric vehicles registered on UK roads.
The SMMT attributes May’s uplift to expanding model choice and sustained competition, with substantial manufacturer discounting continuing to play a significant role in driving EV uptake. Government support, notably the Electric Car Grant, which offers up to £3,750 off a growing list of eligible models, has also helped stimulate demand, alongside rising consumer interest amid wider economic and geopolitical uncertainty.
Yet for all the celebration, the transition remains well behind the regulatory curve. Year to date, BEVs account for just 23.9% of registrations, well short of the 33% required under the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate for 2026. Various flexibilities can be drawn upon to help meet the regulation, but the widening gap between mandated targets and natural consumer demand is piling pressure on manufacturers forced to absorb the rising costs of compliance.
That pressure is set to intensify. In the seventh Carbon Budget, published this week, the Government envisages EVs comprising 95% of the new UK car and van market by 2030, an ambition well beyond the mandate’s targets of 80% for cars and 70% for vans. The industry’s view is blunt: a tripling of EV demand in three years is highly unlikely under current outlooks, and if such targets are to be credible, equally ambitious fiscal and investment support will be essential. Without a holistic review of the transition, the SMMT warns, the UK’s investment proposition will be undermined, consumer choice constrained and the pace of fleet renewal, essential to cutting road transport emissions, curtailed.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “Britain’s car buyers are responding to a market offering more choice than ever, from both new and familiar brands, resulting in a robust May. The EV transition is progressing, but consumer uptake still lags behind even today’s targets, let alone the ambition set out in the latest Carbon Budget.
“While industry shares the long-term ambition, the pathway to Net Zero must be credible. It cannot come at the cost of lost competitiveness and deindustrialisation. A review of the transition is now urgent to ensure ambition matches market realities and we have a sustainable path to road transport decarbonisation.”
