Electric van registrations fall slightly in September

The latest figures from the SMMT shows that new battery electric van (BEV) registrations fell slightly, by -0.5% to 3,020 units, making September the fourth successive month of falling BEV demand and the sixth month of decline across 2024.

It means 14,188 new BEVs have been registered since the start of January, -7.7% below the same period last year. Despite there being more than 30 different BEV vans on the market, e-van sales represent just 5.3% of all new LCVs registered so far in 2024 – just over half the 10% required by the UK’s zero emission vehicle mandate.

SMMT and 12 major vehicle manufacturers have today written to the Chancellor calling for measures to and help speed up the pace of the consumer and business EV transition, including: Maintaining and extending the Plug-in Van Grant beyond 2025, equalising VAT on public charging to match the 5% home charging rate; and mandating infrastructure targets to support those who cannot charge at home and with provisions for the additional size and power requirements of zero emission vans.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said: "Growing overall demand for new vans is encouraging as the sector, a barometer of the UK economy’s health, continues to recover post Covid. But while manufacturers have invested huge sums delivering zero emission technology and incentivising its sale, consistently low demand is constraining industry from meeting Britain’s ambitious zero emission vehicles sales mandates. For van fleets to go green at pace they need the immediate encouragement – and long-term certainty – of fiscal incentives and van-specific charging infrastructure. Without these, UK decarbonisation ambitions cannot be achieved at the world-leading speed demanded by regulation."