The first nine months of the year have seen the sale of plug-ins surge in the UK, a study by Go Ultra Low confirms.
Using data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) it counted 20,992 such vehicles as have been sold so far in 2015. This equates to a 138.5 percent increase over 2014 when the figure was
Plug-in hybrids did even better, recording a boost in sales of 226.5 percent over the same time frame of 2014 – 14,041 of all plug-ins registered were of the hybrid variety.
The UK market currently offers 27 plug-ins for sale and the most popular model is the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. It accounted for 9,303 of the year to date sales, tripling its 2014 record of 2,731 over the same time span.
It’s seconded by the Nissan Leaf with 4,285 sales and the BMW i3 with 1,564.
Poppy Welch, the head of Go Ultra Low, states that “the growth in plug-in car registrations is excellent news and in line with our expectations. This trend should continue over the course of this year as we know that motorists are keen to achieve maximum miles for the lowest cost, while minimising emissions and environmental impact.”
Overall, thus far in the year, plug-ins are accounting for “more than 1 precent” of the market share, up from last year’s 0.44 percent. UK government estimates suggest that the figure will grow to 5 percent by the year 2020.
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