The number of vehicles on Britain’s roads hit a record 41.96 million in 2024, up 1.4% from the previous year, according to new data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
Cars remain the dominant vehicle type, with numbers rising 1.3% to 36.17 million.
Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) saw the fastest growth, rising 38.9% to 1.33 million cars and surpassing the one million milestone for the first time.
Plug-in vehicles overall, including hybrids, now account for 5.1% of all vehicles in use.
“The proliferation of newer lower and zero emission technologies across the parc led to a reduction in average car CO2, which dropped by -1.6%,” SMMT reported, citing lower-emission vehicle replacements and growing EV model choice.
Old bangers
Despite this progress, the UK’s car fleet is ageing.
The average age has risen to a record 9.5 years, with 43.4% of vehicles over a decade old. This trend is slowing environmental gains, as many older cars predate Euro 6 emissions standards.
Petrol remains the dominant fuel type, accounting for 58.2% of cars, while diesel continues to decline, down 4.4% to 32.1%.
Meanwhile, vans rose to a record 5.1 million, and the number of zero-emission buses grew 81.8% to 3,494.
SMMT Chief Executive Mike Hawes said: “Drivers need more incentives and greater confidence in infrastructure investment if we are to replace the high volumes of older high-emission cars with zero-emission alternatives.”
Popular car models include the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Focus, while automatic transmissions grew 9.5% thanks to EV adoption. London and the South East lead in EV ownership with 456,289 registered units.
