EVs continue to rise

This story first appeared in the February issue of EVtalk – CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE

Electric vehicle numbers reached 6603 in January, up nearly 400 on December.

That’s pushing even closer to this year’s goal of 8000, which is likely to be surpassed months ahead of time at this rate.

The Ministry of Transport’s latest figures show the fleet is made up of 1327 new light pure electrics (up 63 on December), 3493 used light pure electrics (up 280), 1229 new light plug-in hybrids (up 32) and 477 used light plug-in hybrids (up 27).

Heavy EVs barely moved – just one more was added to last year’s total of 76.
There were 407 EV registrations in January compared with November’s peak of 477. Registrations dropped to 378 in December.

The Nissan Leaf continues to be the most popular electric vehicle, with the model leading the used battery electric vehicle chart with a huge 241 units.

The Nissan eNV200 was second on 16, followed by the Renault Zoe on four.

The Mitsubishi MiEV was next on two, tied with the BMW i3. One Smart FourTwo also joined the fleet.

In used plug-in hybrids, the Toyota Prius topped the market for the first time on 11 units.
The Mitsubishi Outlander was second on 10, followed by the BMW i3 on five. One Porsche Spyder and a BMW 330e were registered.

In the new EV market, the Volkswagen eGolf, quickly becoming popular with rental and other fleets, led on 23 units.

This edged out the Tesla Model S on 16 and the Hyundai Ioniq on 11.

The Tesla model X was next on seven, followed by the BMW i3 on three, Renault Zoe on two and Renault Kangoo on one.

The Mitsubishi Outlander easily won the battle for plug-in hybrid supremacy, with 12 registered. The Mini Countryman is performing surprisingly well, with seven delivered.
Next was the Audi A3 Etron on five, followed by the BMW i3 on three. Two BMW 3-Series and Audi Q7 plug-ins arrived, followed by one each of the Mercedes-Benz GLE, Porsche Panamera, Volvo XC60 and Volvo XC90.