
The market for plug-in electric vehicles in the UK is growing rapidly, with the Nissan LEAF topping the sales lists with 6,838 cars licensed at the end of 2014.
According to analysis of DVLA data by the RAC Foundation, the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid is the second most common model with 5,273 vehicles licensed, while the BMW i3 is at third place with 1,534 electric cars licensed at the end of last year.
Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “After a slower start than ministers hoped for sales of the greenest cars are accelerating fast, but it is illuminating to see which manufacturers are benefitting. What the numbers don’t reveal is the profitability of ultra-green cars for manufacturers or how hard each firm is pushing their products. But overall the market is growing rapidly. The latest industry figures show one in 86 cars sold in the UK in the first quarter of 2015 was a plug-in vehicle of some kind.”
The chart below shows how the licensed number of cars and vans available under the grant schemes has increased over time and what the breakdown is between all-electric cars and plug-in hybrids.
The table below is the full list of the cars and vans currently eligible for the Plug-in Car Grant (worth up to £5,000 per vehicle) and the Plug-in Van Grant (worth up to £8,000 per vehicle). Please note that some or all of those vehicles which show zero in the licensed column are likely to have come to market after Q4 2014.
Rank | Make and Model | Number of plug-in vehicles in the UK licensed at end of Q4 2014 |
1 | Nissan Leaf | 6,838 |
2 | Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (all variants) | 5,273 |
3 | BMW i3 | 1,534 |
4 | Renault ZOE | 1,356 |
5 | Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid | 1,324 |
6 | Vauxhall Ampera | 1,169 |
7 | Tesla Model S | 698 |
8 | Renault Kangoo ZE | 663 |
9 | Nissan e-NV200 (all variants) | 399 |
10 | Peugeot Ion | 368 |
11 | BMW i8 | 279 |
12 | Mitsubishi i-Miev | 266 |
13 | Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid | 241 |
14 | Smart ForTwo Electric Drive | 205 |
15 | Citroen C-Zero | 202 |
16 | Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid | 175 |
17 | Chevrolet Volt | 124 |
18 | Volkswagen e-up! | 118 |
19 | Renault Fluence | 73 |
20 | Audi A3 e-tron | 66 |
21 | Volkswagen e-Golf | 47 |
22 | Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell | 23 |
23 | Kia Soul EV | 20 |
24 | Ford Focus Electric | 19 |
25 | Mia (all variants) | 14 |
26 | Mercedes-Benz S500 Plug-in Hybrid | 10 |
27 | BYD e6 | 0 |
27 | Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive | 0 |
27 | Mercedes-Benz C350 e | 0 |
27 | Volkswagen Golf GTE | 0 |
27 | BD Otomotiv eTraffic | 0 |
27 | BD Otomotiv eDucato | 0 |
27 | Citroen Berlingo EV | 0 |
27 | Peugeot ePartner | 0 |
27 | Smith Electric Smith Edison | 0 |