UK: annual electric vehicle sales 2015-2023

In 2023, some 455,200 new electric cars were registered in the United Kingdom. This was a year-over-year increase of 23.8 percent compared to 2022 and over double the sales recorded in 2020. Overall, electric vehicle sales have steadily grown since 2015. 

A growing electric vehicle market and fleet

Electric vehicles have been gaining market share in the United Kingdom. Since 2021, battery-electric vehicles overtook diesel vehicles and have been the second most popular fuel type in the country through 2022. The South East was the region of England with the largest electric car market, at around 80,600 new registrations in 2022, followed by the North West and South West. This increase in sales translates to a sharp rise in the UK electric vehicle fleet, which surpassed one million units in 2022. Most of the vehicles in the electric car parc were battery-electric.

Charging infrastructure and its challenges

While the UK electric car fleet is steadily growing, the public charging infrastructure has also been on the rise. By July 2023, there were over 44,000 publicly available charging points in the United Kingdom. However, most of these chargers were alternating current chargers, which were typically slower than their direct current counterparts. Accessibility is also one of the leading hurdles for the UK charging network. Most public charging points were destination charging, typically located at the end of a driver's journey in areas such as retail car parks or education areas, and were not open around the clock, which presents challenges in how electric vehicle owners can recharge their vehicles without turning to private home charging.