The sales of hybrid electric cars is at an all-time high and they are close to catching up to electric cars in terms of market share.
A total of 74.400 new cars were registered in February, which was one of the slowest periods of car sales prior to the introduction of the March registration plates. This is a 26 percent increase year-on-year. Petrol is still the most popular fuel type with 57% of the market, but diesel has dropped to 7.7%.
Total sales rose 18% to 206,000 in the first two months. This is seven consecutive months of increasing sales in a market last year that was at its lowest point for 30 years.
Hybrids are the top-selling category this year, with a 40% increase in sales in February and year to date.
Hybrids account for 13.9% of all new registrations, with 28,600 units so far. This is just 1,000 units less than pure-electric registrations which hold 14.3 percent of the market. Although sales of battery electric cars continue to grow, they are growing at a slower rate than pure-electric registrations which have 14.3 per cent of the market.
Hybrids can be described as “self-charging” electrified vehicles that have a battery but no plug-in lead. These cars can run in zero emission mode for only a short distance, but they rely on the petrol engine for longer trips. The Toyota Prius is the longest-selling hybrid. The hybrid Nissan Qashqai/Hyundai Tucson are the current best-selling models in the UK.
Hybrids are a hot topic for both the industry and consumers. They are seen as the wrong way to go to zero-emission transition, because they are heavily dependent on fossil fuels for short trips.
Their strong sales indicate that drivers can lower their emissions without paying the much higher cost of pure electric or plug in-hybrids. They also don’t have to worry about a suboptimal charging network. And, they will enjoy a car with lower running costs than a petrol car because the battery gives you more miles per gallon.