UK demand for electric cars growing despite Covid crisis

This article is published in collaboration with Statista

by Martin Armstrong

Reacting to the latest new UK car registration figures from SMMT this week, Chief Executive Mike Hawes warned: "During a torrid year, the automotive industry has demonstrated incredible resilience, but this is not a recovery...Unless the pandemic is controlled and economy-wide consumer and business confidence rebuilt, the short-term future looks very challenging indeed."

Despite the clear crisis the Covid-19 pandemic has caused for the industry, there are certain types of car which are still seeing growing demand. As this infographic shows, although there are still far more petrol and diesel cars being sold, demand has shrunk by 21 and 38 percent compared to 2019, respectively. Cars powered to some degree by electricity have weathered the pandemic storm, posting growth of 184 percent for vehicles powered solely by batteries, 139 percent for plug-in-hybrids and 56 percent for hybrids.

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