British plug-in electric car sales went through the roof.

We have been accustomed to plug-in car sales in UK standing between 2% to nearly 3% of the total market, but August brought us a surprising surge to over 4.2%!

Together with conventional non-rechargeable hybrids, overall around 8% or 1/12th of sales were electrified vehicles. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) notes:

"Meanwhile, the UK’s growing range of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric cars continued to attract buyers, with a record one in 12 people choosing one.1 Demand surged by a substantial 88.7%, with the sector accounting for 8.0% of the market – its highest ever level – as billions of pounds of manufacturer investment help deliver more ultra-low and zero emission models to the market."

In total, 3,981 new plug-in cars were registered last month, which is almost 132% more than a year ago. Even despite the overall automotive market increasing by 23.1% to 94,094, the plug-ins gained a big increase in share.

Most of the market and growth comes from plug-in hybrids:

659 BEVs (up 38% year-over-year)

(up 38% year-over-year) 3,322 PHEVs (up 168% year-over-year)

Plug-in Electric Car Registrations in UK – August 2018

After eight months of 2018, total new plug-in registrations stand at 37,893 (8,980 BEVs and 28,913 PHEVs) at an average market share of nearly 2.4%.

September is always a big month in the UK, so stay tuned for more records soon.