SMMT data shows best month ever for EV registrations: comment
March has easily broken the record for the number of EVs sold in a single month.
By George Smeeton
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Responding to the SMMT’s publication of car sales data for March 2025 [1] Colin Walker, Head of Transport at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said: “March has easily broken the record for the number of EVs sold in a single month. In the first quarter of 2025, sales of EVs in the UK have increased 42.6% on Q1 2024 - more than any other drivetrain. It is quite difficult to square these results with claims that there is a lack of demand for EVs in what has risen to become Europe’s largest EV market.
“At 20.7%, EV market share for the quarter is over five points higher than it was for the first quarter of 2024. And since credits to hit the ZEV mandate can also be earned from the sale of low-emission petrol cars, the industry as a whole will only need to hit 22.7% EV sales in 2025 to meet their targets. [2] This means manufacturers are well on course to comply with the mandate for the second year in succession. As EV prices are driven down as manufacturers compete to hit their targets, the ultimate beneficiaries are Britain’s drivers, with more and more being able to afford to make the shift to cleaner and cheaper electric driving.
“Any weakening of the mandate could remove this dynamic, sending prices up and sales of new EVs back down. The growth of the second-hand EV market, where most of us buy our cars, would be stunted – leaving millions of families stuck in petrol cars paying a petrol premium of hundreds, and even thousands, of pounds a year”.
Analysis by the ECIU found that by 2048 a weakening of the ZEV mandate could result in sales similar to the ‘lower option’ considered by the previous Government when designing the policy, resulting in 2.7m fewer EVs entering the second hand market than would otherwise have been the case by 2048. This means that a total of around £40bn in extra motoring costs would have to be shouldered by millions of families across the UK, including some of the poorest. [3]
A recent report by CBI Economics [4], commissioned by the ECIU, revealed that a failure by the car industry to make the transition to manufacturing EVs could see its contributions to the UK economy fall by as much as 73%, or £34.1bn, and over 400,000 jobs could be lost. Conversely, economic output could increase by over £16bn, and 167,000 new jobs could be created, if a rapid and successful transition takes place. Government support is critical in avoiding such an outcome, and this includes the provision of a stable and supportive regulatory environment through keeping measures like the ZEV Mandate in place.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
2. https://storage.googleapis.com/public_download_assets/ecc_pdfs/20250403%20ECC%20March%202025.pdf
For more information or for interview requests:
George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: 07894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net