The Society of Motor Manufactures and Traders (SMMT) has said that more could be done to increase the sales of battery-operated electric vehicles (EVs) in the UK.

Sales of EVs in the UK rose by a third to 224,841 in the first half of the year, resulting in a market share of 21.6 per cent. However, this is below the mandated 28 per cent for this year.

According to a survey of chief executives working in the industry carried out by SMMT, the insufficient EVs sales were down to a lack of charging incentives as well as fiscal disincentives such as the newly applied Expensive Car Supplement (ECS), which is estimated to impose an effective fine of more than £360 million on EVs bought from April in this year alone.

The motoring organisation said that cutting VAT on new EVs and implementing public charging would boost demand significantly and make the UK market a leader in affordability and decarbonisation.

If these measures are implemented for three years, the SMMT estimates that an additional 267,000 electric vehicles, rather than fossil fuel vehicles, would be put on the road, driving down CO2 emissions by six million tonnes a year.

“A second consecutive month of growth for the new car market is good news, as is the positive performance of EVs,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive. “That EV growth, however, is still being driven by substantial industry support with manufacturers using every channel and unsustainable discounting to drive activity, yet it remains below mandated levels.

“As we have seen in other countries, government incentives can supercharge the market transition, without which the climate change ambitions we all share will be under threat.”

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