Booming electric car sales were a bright spot in a tough car market late last year amid disruption to global supply chains which hit manufacturers, latest data has revealed

In its annual sales snapshot for 2021, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has said carmakers sold a whooping 190,000 battery electric cars across the country last year, thereby, accounting for about 11.6% of sales.

Reflecting a growing appetite for greener vehicles, sales rose from 108,000 in the year 2020 when battery-powered cars accounted for just 6.6% of new cars bought in Britain. Meanwhile, in December 2021 alone, electric cars made up to 26% of sales when physical dealerships were allowed to open during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Against a backdrop of global supply chain disruption and shortages of crucial semiconductor chips, UK car industry sales for the year were up just 1% from 2020 levels to 1.65m and remained almost a third below total sales in 2019.

However, sales of electric vehicles were a bright spot for the industry, the SMMT said, as Britons bought more of the models in 2021 than in the previous five years combined.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of SMMT, said the lack of microchips used in everything from windscreen wipers to in-car entertainment systems would continue to serve as a drag on the car industry during 2022, asserting, “[It] will undermine the market for the rest of the year”.

According to Mike, “We think demand is still there, demand is still strong. The challenge is how to supply to customers”.