Ultra-green cars on the road

Mitsubishi races ahead of Nissan to top ultra-green car league table

The Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid is now the most common ultra-green car on the road in the UK, knocking the Nissan Leaf off the top spot.

There were 9,773 Outlanders licensed at the end of Q1 2015, compared with 5,273 at the end of Q4 2014 – an 85% increase.

By comparison there were 8,274 pure battery-powered Nissan Leafs, a 21% increase on the 6,838 figure three months earlier.

Third in the list of licensed vehicles that qualify for the government’s plug-in car and van grants is the BMW i3 (2,186, up 43%). The figures are revealed in analysis of DVLA data by the RAC Foundation.

Overall, at the end of Q1 2015 there were 29,567 vehicles on the road in the UK that were eligible for the grants, a rise of 38% on the Q4 2014 figure of 21,504.

To put these numbers in perspective, in the UK there are 30.7m cars and 3.6m vans. Therefore those vehicles licensed and eligible for the plug-in car and van grants make up 0.09% of the total: 1 in every 1,160.

This is the list of the top-20 vehicles on the road – as of the end of Quarter 1 2015 – which are currently available under the plug-in car grant scheme (worth up to £5,000 per vehicle) and the plug-in van grant scheme (worth up to £8,000 per vehicle).

Rank	Make and Model	Q1 2015	Q4 2014
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (all variants)	9773	5273
2	Nissan Leaf	8274	6838
3	BMW i3	2186	1534
4	Renault Zoe	1621	1356
5	Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid	1395	1324
6	Vauxhall Ampera	1226	1169
7	Tesla Model S	903	698
8	Renault Kangoo ZE	693	663
9	BMW i8	546	279
10	Nissan e-NV200 (all variants)	518	399
11	Peugeot Ion	376	368
12	Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid	301	241
13	Audi A3 e-tron	300	66
14	Mitsubishi i-Miev	254	266
15	Smart ForTwo Electric Drive	216	205
16	Citroen C-Zero	206	202
17	Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid	173	175
18	Volkswagen e-up!	130	118
19	Chevrolet Volt	123	124
20	Volkswagen e-Golf	83	47

Note: As of today there are 35 models eligible for the plug-in car and van schemes. The full list is in notes to editors. Some of the vehicles above might have been bought without the grant. Others might be licensed to manufacturers and dealers rather than customers.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said:

“This weekend Formula E electric racing comes to London with the express aim of promoting sustainable clean vehicles. From the latest figures it looks like the organisers might be pushing at a door that is just starting to open.

“Over the last 12 months the number of ultra-green cars and vans on our roads is up by 240% with the Mitsubishi Outlander making the running which suggests that if the industry can offer the style of vehicles motorists want at a competitive price they will vote with their wallets.

“For the time being that is still dependent on a government grant. The challenge for manufacturers will be to offer economically attractive options when the grants get reined in.”

ENDS

Contacts:

Philip Gomm – Head of External Communications – RAC Foundation

020 7747 3445 | 07711 776448 | [email protected]

Notes to editors:

The RAC Foundation is a transport policy and research organisation that explores the economic, mobility, safety and environmental issues relating to roads and their users. The Foundation publishes independent and authoritative research with which it promotes informed debate and advocates policy in the interest of the responsible motorist.

The RAC Foundation is a registered charity, number 1002705.

Details of the Foundation’s work is available at www.racfoundation.org

The licensing figures by model are available to view on the RAC Foundation website:

http://www.racfoundation.org/data/plug-in-grant-eligible-vehicles-licensed-by-quarter

It is available to embed on your website using the following code:

The overall number of plug-in car and van grant eligible vehicles licensed plotted over time (broken down by pure electric versus plug-in hybrids) is also available on the same webpage:

http://www.racfoundation.org/data/plug-in-grant-eligible-vehicles-licensed-by-quarter

It is available to embed on your website using the following code:

This is the full list of vehicles currently available under the government’s plug-in car and van grant schemes and how many were licensed as of the end of Q1 2015 (with Q4 2014 as a comparison).

Rank	Make and Model	Q1 2015	Q4 2014
1	Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (all variants)	9773	5273
2	Nissan Leaf	8274	6838
3	BMW i3	2186	1534
4	Renault Zoe	1621	1356
5	Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid	1395	1324
6	Vauxhall Ampera	1226	1169
7	Tesla Model S	903	698
8	Renault Kangoo ZE	693	663
9	BMW i8	546	279
10	Nissan e-NV200 (all variants)	518	399
11	Peugeot Ion	376	368
12	Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid	301	241
13	Audi A3 e-tron	300	66
14	Mitsubishi i-Miev	254	266
15	Smart ForTwo Electric Drive	216	205
16	Citroen C-Zero	206	202
17	Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid	173	175
18	Volkswagen e-up!	130	118
19	Chevrolet Volt	123	124
20	Volkswagen e-Golf	83	47
21	Mercedes-Benz S500 Hybrid	72	10
22	Renault Fluence	69	73
23	Kia Soul EV	35	20
24	Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive	29	0
25	Daimler Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell	25	23
26	Ford Focus Electric	23	19
27	Mia (all variants)	13	14
28	Volkswagen Golf GTE	4	0
29	BYD e6	0	0
=	Mercedes-Benz C350 e	0	0
=	BD Otomotiv eTraffic	0	0
=	BD Otomotiv eDucato	0	0
=	Citroen Berlingo EV	0	0
=	Peugeot ePartner	0	0
=	Smith Electric Smith Edison	0	0
TOTAL		29,567	21,504

Plug-in grant vehicles on the road Q1 201526 Jun 2015

Mitsubishi races ahead of Nissan to top ultra-green car league table