The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said around one in six new cars sold in Britain in 2021 was either battery electric or a plug-in hybrid .
"Not a great year, coming on the back of an equally poor year," SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said, referring to the impact of the chip shortage on sales which crimped a post-pandemic recovery. He added that the general view was that the chip shortage would undermine the market over the course of 2022 and this would "flow through to 2023".
The SMMT said fully-electric BEVs accounted for 11.6% of sales in 2021 - more than the cumulative sales for 2016 to 2020. In December, BEVs made up roughly a quarter of UK car sales.The UK government plans an effective ban on pure fossil-fuel models by 2030.