By Rob Hull
Updated: 00:11 AEDT, 17 October 2024
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An electric car lobby group says 'skewed' sales data is undermining the level of demand for EV in Britain.
Electric Vehicles UK, a campaign group formed to dispel 'myths and lies' around the electric car market, said reporting on Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders registrations figures had downplayed the level of private demand for battery cars.
It comes just days after the SMMT and 13 vehicle manufacturers wrote to the Chancellor calling for a fresh wave of incentives in the Budget to slash the price of new EVs in an effort to invigorate sales.
EV campaigners have said sales data published monthly does not show the true demand for electric cars among private buyers
In its September registrations update, the SMMT said: 'Private battery electric vehicle demand rose, up 3.6 per cent after unprecedented manufacturer discounting, but this was equivalent to just 410 additional registrations.
'Consumer demand for diesel grew at a faster rate, increasing 17.1 per cent in September, a volume uplift of 1,367 units.'
It later added: 'Year-to-date private BEV [Battery Electric Vehicle] demand remains down 6.3 per cent – underlining the scale of the challenge involved in moving the mass market to meet the mandated targets that were conceived in very different economic, geopolitical and market conditions.
'Previous assumptions of a market delivering steady BEV growth, cheaper and plentiful raw materials, affordable energy and low interest rates have not come to fruition, with the upfront cost of BEV models remaining stubbornly high.'
While the SMMT's statements would indicate that private demand for EVs is accelerating slower than diesel, the industry representative has admitted that how it reports sales data does not present the full picture of battery car appetite.
The problem lies with how registrations are grouped into 'private', 'fleet' and 'business' sales - the three types of vehicle sales recorded by the SMMT.
In its September registrations update, the SMMT said that consumer demand for new diesel cars 'grew at a faster rate' than for petrol models
The major driving forces behind today's electric car registrations is 'salary sacrifice' schemes.
An EV salary sacrifice scheme is an arrangement where an employee agrees to give up part of their pre-tax salary in exchange for their employer leasing an EV for them.
'The glaring lack of government support for the private buyer is constraining demand such that other older and more polluting technologies continue to outstrip electric cars. This is no 'victory'.'
Also commenting on the SMMT's presentation of private EV sales, Colin Walker, head of transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said any notion of them being in decline was 'completely false' and 'based on some heavily cherry-picked data'.
Ben Nelmes, chief executive at independent transport research organisation New AutoMotive, described September's EV market as 'fizzing with life'.
He added: 'Electric car registrations grew by almost a quarter in September, with one in five new cars an EV. It is great to see more people than ever before switching to cleaner, cheaper driving.
'Sensible government policy is driving an emerging great British success story, with electric car registrations here outperforming the rest of Europe.
'We are in a global race to get EVs on the roads and Britain is pulling into the fast lane.'
Despite the upbeat outlook on EV demand, the SMMT and bosses from 13 major manufacturers have recently written to the Chancellor pleading for a fresh wave of incentives to turbocharge electric car sales.
In a letter to Rachel Reeves ahead of the Budget, car giants including BMW, Ford, Toyota and Volkswagen said government targets are putting too much pressure on the industry at a time when private EV demand is wavering.
Executives called for the introduction of new subsidies to boost sales as many car firms are falling behind the Government's binding Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate requirements.
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