New zero emissions vehicles taking to UK roads have jumped by a
fifth compared to the previous year. But, people with older cars
continue to cling on to them: the average age of a car remains at
10 years compared to the eight of pre-pandemic.
Today's release of Vehicle licensing statistics*, United Kingdom:
2024 by the Department for Transport shows:
Comparing 2024 with 2023, in the UK there were:
-
2,605,000 vehicles registered for the first time, an increase
of 3% (VEH0150)
-
410,000 zero emission vehicles registered for the first time,
an increase of 20% (VEH1153a)
-
382,000 zero emission cars registered for the first time, an
increase of 22%
At the end of December 2024, compared to December 2023, in
the UK there were:
-
41.7 million licensed vehicles, an increase of 1% (VEH0101a)
-
1,394,000 licensed zero emission vehicles on the roads, an
increase of 37% (VEH1103a),
including 1,287,000 zero emission cars, an increase of 38%
At the end of 2024 zero emission vehicles accounted for 3.4% of
all road using vehicles, an increase of 0.9 percentage points
from the end of 2023.Vehicle licensing statistics,
United Kingdom: 2024 - GOV.UK
Jack Cousens, the AA's head of roads policy, says: “The march of
the electric vehicles continues, with the registration of new
electric cars boosted by more than 22% in the past year to make
them 19.1% of all new cars sold. The transformation of the UK car
population is clearly happening.
“However, a combination of financial pressures on car owners and
the legacy of 2017's switch to a standard rate of Vehicle Excise
Duty* has led to owners of older cars clinging on to them.
With standard car tax now at £195 a year, hanging on to a vehicle
that could be paying as little as £20 a year in tax is a huge
incentive.”
“Overall, today's figures present a mixed picture with a leap in
those embracing new technology, whilst others were holding on to
their older vehicles longer perhaps reflecting the economy and
reticence to go electric.”
ends
NOTES TO EDITORS
* V149 Rates of vehicle
tax
Vehicle age
At the end of December 2024, the average age of a licensed car in
the UK was 10 years old, an increase of 16% compared to
the end of December 2019.
Table 4: Average age since first use of licensed vehicles
by body type, UK, end of December 2024 and 2019 (5-years
earlier) (VEH1107)
|
Body type
|
Average age (years) since first use at the end of
December 2024
|
Average age (years) since first use at the end of
December 2019
|
|
Total
|
10
|
9
|
|
Cars
|
10
|
8
|
|
Light goods vehicles
|
9
|
8
|
|
Heavy goods vehicles
|
8
|
7
|
|
Motorcycles
|
16
|
15
|
|
Buses and coaches
|
12
|
11
|
|
Other vehicles
|
17
|
16
|
