JAKARTA - Electric car sales in the UK hit a record high in March, amid a surge in fuel prices. The Independent's report, which was quoted by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on Wednesday, April 8, said that the registration of pure battery-based electric cars reached 86,120 units, up 24.2 percent from March last year.
In total, electric vehicles recorded 196,059 registrations last month. The increase was also seen in plug-in hybrid cars which jumped 46.9 percent year-on-year, while electric hybrid cars rose 7.3 percent. SMMT said March was the best month in history for electric car registrations in the UK market.
The spike comes as oil and gas prices rise due to conflicts in the Middle East. Data from RAC, a British automotive agency, notes that the average price of unleaded gasoline in the UK has risen by about 18 percent since the Iran conflict heated up in late February, to 157 pence per liter. Diesel prices have risen more sharply, by about a third, to an average of 189 pence per liter.
Amid pressure on fuel prices, the UK's new car market has continued to grow. SMMT noted that the number of new vehicles registered in March reached 380,627 units, up 6.6 percent from the same period last year. This is the best monthly sales performance since 2019, before the pandemic.
SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes said most of March's performance was likely to have come from orders placed before the Iran conflict began. However, he warned that the war risked pushing up the cost of living and undermining consumer confidence.
The signal of increased interest also came from the Autotrader vehicle marketplace. Autotrader Chief Customer Officer Ian Plummer said that interest in new EVs has risen sharply in the past month. According to him, demand for information for new EVs on the platform jumped from February to March, equivalent to one request every minute throughout the past month.
Even so, the share of EVs in the UK car market last month was only around 22 percent. This figure is still below the UK government's zero-emission vehicle mandate, which requires 33 percent of each manufacturer's sales this year to come from zero-emission vehicles, which generally means pure battery-based electric cars.
The British government said it continued to support the transition to electric vehicles through investment in EV manufacturing, charging networks, and electric car purchase grant programs.
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