Electric vehicles (EVs) are gradually continuing to creep upward amidst the larger auto market, and May’s sales in the United Kingdom show an impressive growth of the sector, despite the market trending downward as a whole.
The UK auto market had an electric market share of 18.3 percent in May including plugin hybrids, up from 14.7 percent last May, according to data compiled by CleanTechnica.
Similarly, fully battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) reached 12.4 percent, up nearly 1.5 times year-over-year.
Additionally, the overall auto market was down by about 34 percent compared to pre-pandemic norms with a total of 124,394 units.
While Tesla’s status as a brand dropped significantly on market share boards in May due to the automaker’s 22-day Shanghai factory shutdown, other automakers BMW, Kia, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Mercedes took the country’s top five BEV spots.
As for May and the trailing quarter, Tesla still tops market share so far on the year, with 20 percent of the BEV market contained by the U.S.-based automaker.
The second through sixth spots including the trailing quarter holds the same brands as May’s top five — Kia (8 percent), Volkswagen (7.3 percent), BMW (6.9 percent), Hyundai (6.6 percent) and Mercedes (6.1 percent).
Tesla opened its Superchargers to non-Tesla EVs in the UK in May, in addition to adding the feature in Spain and Belgium following a handful of other countries.
