Leasing: EV demand increases 72% in Q2

Demand for electric vehicles (EVs) has increased by 72% in Q2, according to leasing.com.

The car leasing comparison site said consumer and business demand for EVs would be even higher if lead times were shorter.

Paul Harrison, chief partnerships officer at Leasing.com, said: “The move to electric has been building for a number of years, but the rate of adoption by consumers and businesses in 2022 has exceeded even our own forecasts.

“While we’ve seen consumer engagement remain high in recent months, consumer intent has dipped as a result of ongoing supply disruption, rising new car prices and the household cost of living crisis. Without these big market influences, electric vehicle demand would have undoubtedly been even higher this year which is encouraging for the industry as it looks ahead.”

Demand for all electrified vehicles (BEVs, hybrids and plugins) increased by 48% compared to Q2 last year, while demand for internal combustion vehicles (petrol and diesel) fell by 25% in Q2, with petrol demand falling 14% in the same period.

Leasing.com’s latest figures show that electric vehicles are closing the gap on petrol’s dominance in the new car leasing market. Electric vehicles saw a 36.5% share of total sales enquiries via the website in Q2 compared to petrol’s 54.5% market share. The gap between the fuel types continues to narrow each month.

Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed overall petrol and diesel car sales slumped in June; while EV registrations grew 14.6%, reaching a market share of 16.1% (June 2021: 10.7%).

Plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) registrations dipped by 36.5% to 5.5% market share, meanwhile, as hybrid registrations declined by 7.3% but increased their market share from 1.9ppts to 10.6%.

SMMT data also showed that plug-in vehicles comprised more than a fifth (21.6%) of new cars joining the road last month.

Supply issues continue to dictate the sales winners in the new car market, however. Leasing,com said consumers and businesses are gravitating towards the models that they can get hold of quickest and demand has softened for those brands with longer lead times. This has created opportunities for some manufacturers to rapidly grow their market share.

Car subscription provider Mycardirect has an overall EV mix of 28%, which is double the share seen in the UK car market overall.

The company, which is part of the AAM Group, believes this performance down to its “unique” customer proposition which offers more flexibility than traditional purchase or leasing schemes.

The top three most popular vehicles on Leasing.com in Q2 this year were the Nissan Qashqai, Hyundai Tucson and the Cupra Formentor. While the top three most popular BEVs were the Tesla Model Y, MG ZS and the Polestar 2.

Top 10 most enquired cars Q2 2022: