EV Sales Surged In The UK This September

Electric car sales jumped in the UK this September, with 99,199 battery electric vehicles sold — up 36 percent from a year earlier and more than double the pace from three years ago. Electric cars took a 28.3 percent share of the market, closing in on gasoline cars at 37.6 percent. Plug-in hybrids also surged, up almost 56 percent, giving electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid vehicles a combined 58 percent of all new car sales. Industry group SMMT credited the growth to many more model choices, price discounts, and the UK government's electric car grant, along with high gas prices pushing buyers toward electric.

The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y topped the sales charts, but Chinese brands made a strong showing too, accounting for one in five new cars sold. BYD sales are up more than 80 percent this year, and the Jaecoo 7 was the second best-selling car in the UK last month. Traditional brands like Fiat, Peugeot, Nissan, and Hyundai all saw sales fall.

For comparison, this puts the UK's electric vehicle market far ahead of the US, where EVs hold only about 7 percent of sales. None of this changes rebates or programs available to American homeowners, but it's a sign of how quickly electric vehicle choices and pricing are shifting elsewhere — something that may eventually shape which models and incentives show up here.