Electric cars outsold every other powertrain in Britain last month

Battery-electric cars took a record 29.8% share of UK registrations in August, outselling every other powertrain, though year-to-date uptake of 25.6% remains below the 33% zero emission mandate. The Commission has proposed cutting the EU’s 2035 target from 100% to 90%, permitting plug-in hybrids and range extenders.

Electric cars were Britain’s best-selling powertrain last month. Battery-electric took around 30% of new registrations, ahead of petrol, diesel, hybrids and plug-in hybrids, InsideEVs reported.

That figure comes from the research firm New AutoMotive. The official count is a little lower, and both agree August was a record.

Battery-electric cars took 29.8% of a market of 94,236 registrations, the SMMT said. Plug-in hybrids took 14.5% and full hybrids 12.7%.

August is the smallest month in the British calendar. It is roughly 4% of annual sales, and September’s new plate is the real test.

The year-to-date number is the one that counts. Uptake is 25.6% across eight months, a record and still well short of what the rules demand. They ask for 33%.

Those rules are why any of this is happening. The mandate does the work that subsidies used to.

Britain requires 33% of new car sales to be zero emission this year, 80% by 2030 and 100% by 2035, with credits for compliance and penalties for missing it. The Commission has proposed moving its own 2035 requirement to 90% instead.

That December proposal would let plug-in hybrids, range extenders, mild hybrids and combustion cars continue past 2035. The remaining tenth could be offset with low-carbon steel or with e-fuels and biofuels.

The difference already shows. European battery-electric share was 25% in July across the EU, UK and EFTA, and about a fifth of EU registrations in the first half.

So Britain sits several points ahead of the market it left, on the harder target of the two. The proposal is now with Parliament and Council.

The brands doing the work are not British. Tesla leads Britain on 8.8%, though it took a European slump in the first quarter, and Kia is second with 45% of its August sales fully electric.

Tata’s Jaguar Land Rover has sold 43,000 cars in Britain this year. Not one of them was electric, and the Range Rover Electric and Jaguar Type 01 have not reached showrooms.

BYD is third with about 6.3% of the UK electric market and registrations up roughly 60%, part of a record share for Chinese brands in Europe.