New figures show that while the number of vehicles on UK roads reached an all-time high in 2024, average emissions from company cars saw a significant decline — driven largely by the growing popularity of electric vehicles.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the total number of vehicles in use in the UK rose by 1.4% last year, reaching 41.96 million.
Passenger cars also hit a new record, up by 470,556 units (1.3%) to 36.17 million — marking the third straight year of growth.
Light commercial vehicles (vans) saw a 1.8% rise, pushing their total to 5.1 million — with more than a million added since 2015. In contrast, heavy goods vehicles remained steady, dipping slightly by 0.1% to 625,509.
The rise in zero- and low-emission vehicles contributed to an overall 1.6% drop in average car CO2 emissions.
Petrol cars continue to dominate overall, however, growing 1.0% to 21 million and holding 58.2% market share. Diesel vehicles, however, declined for the fifth year running, down 4.4% to 11.6 million (32.1% of the total UK car fleet).
Electric vehicles (EVs) saw a major boost, with the number of fully electric cars rising by nearly 39% to over 1.3 million — now making up 3.7% of all cars, a full percentage point increase over 2023. When combined with plug-in hybrids, plug-in vehicles now account for 5.1% (2.16 million) of the total vehicle parc. This represents a year-on-year rise of 34.6%.
The biggest improvement came from the company car sector, where emissions fell 5.6%, helped by favourable tax policies and a wider range of electric models. By comparison, private car emissions dropped by only 1.0%.
The statistics represent encouraging signs for the sector, which recently saw the reintroduction of the 2030 ban on sales of petrol and diesel cars, albeit with some changes to the rules.
Motor Assist has been helping fleets and company car drivers with the transition to electric vehicles by offering its EV-for-EV guarantee following an incident. This means that businesses and drivers don’t have to compromise by accepting a petrol or diesel car if their EV is off the road.
The incident management specialist also provides a network of EV-ready bodyshops to ensure electric vehicles are repaired quickly and returned to OEM spec.
Its efforts to help to make the gradual changeover to EVs as seamless as possible also aligns with the brand’s ESG commitments, which it sees as a cornerstone of its growth plans as it onboards an increasing number of new partners.
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