With the latest numbers from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) out today, we can now say that there are officially more than half a million pure-electric cars on UK roads. Despite overall sales of new cars dropping by nearly 25% compared to June 2021, new registrations of pure-electric cars showed an increase of almost 15%.

Indeed, pure-electric cars – also known as battery-electric cars, or BEVs – were the only vehicle type in June to increase sales year-on-year, with sales of all other car types decreasing.

However, it’s not just electric cars that have shown an increase since June 2021. New EV charging statistics from Zap-Map show that there are now 32,663 total charging devices across the UK. Certain areas have shown impressive growth, such as ultra-rapid charging devices, which have seen a 67% increase since June last year.

The Zap-Map graph below shows the number of new battery-electric cars registered each month over the the past 13 months.

June 2022 saw a total of 30,451 new plug-in car registrations, comprising 22,737 BEVs and 7,714 PHEVs. This takes the cumulative total of plug-in cars on UK roads – as of the end of June – to over 910,000. That total comprises over 510,000 BEVs and almost 400,000 PHEVs.

Th chart above displays the cumulative number of battery-electric cars in the UK since 2016. So far in 2022, over 115,000 BEVs have been sold in the UK, alongside more than 51,000 PHEVs.

Last month’s sales saw plug-in cars take 21.6% of market share, with BEVs accounting for 16.1% of overall car sales in June.

This means that plug-in cars currently represent 20.8% of market share in 2022, with BEVs at 14.4% and PHEVs at 6.4%.

June also saw the Tesla Model Y take the second spot in the UK’s top ten bestsellers, with almost 4,200 models sold. While the Model Y was the only pure-electric car to enter the top ten last month, the latest EV charging statistics from Zap-Map show that 829 new charging devices were installed in June. This brings the UK total to more than 32,663 devices, across 19,960 locations. It also represents a 34% increase in the number of charging devices since June 2021.

Moreover, last month saw 207 new rapid and ultra-rapid charging devices installed, bringing the total to 6,018. This includes an increase of 67% in the number of ultra-rapid devices – capable of adding from 70 miles in as little as 15 minutes – since June last year.

Looking ahead, SWARCO and Cornwall Council have partnered to deliver EV chargers across the county, while InstaVolt has received a significant £110m funding boost in order to expand its rapid charging network.