Opinion: BEVs fall behind as van market returns to growth

By Andy Picton, chief commercial vehicle editor at Glass’s

Following two months of decline, the UK’s light commercial vehicle (LCV) market returned to growth in August. Rising 1.7% with 16,575 new vehicles hitting the road for the first time. This is the highest August total since 2021 when 20,582 units hit the road. A total of 218,884 LCVs have been registered year-to-date, a 2.7% increase on 213,219 units registered to the same point last year.

Demand for LCVs was positive across all sectors except in the Pickup sector where demand fell 2.5%. Vans in the >2.5-3.5t Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) sector remains the most popular with demand rising by 1.8%. The 11,753 registrations represented 70.9% of all units registered during the month. Vans in the Below 2.0 tonne sector recorded a 24.5% increase (427 units) on August 2023 whilst Vans between 2.0 and 2.5 tonnes GVW saw registrations increase by 1.9% to 2,771 units.

Ford once again topped the registrations for August, with the Transit Custom claiming top spot with the Transit in third and Ranger in fifth. The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter finished second, whilst Stellantis saw the Vauxhall Vivaro finish Fourth, the Vauxhall Movano eighth (590 units), the Peugeot Partner 9th (556 units) and the Vauxhall Combo 10th (545 units). The remaining top ten spots were claimed by the Renault Trafic in sixth with 630 units and the Volkswagen Transporter in 7th with 593 units.

Top five LCV registrations:

Electric van registrations

BEV registrations have fallen 21.5% on August 2023, with only 881 units up to 3.5t GVW registered compared with 1,122 units twelve months ago. This is the third successive month of decline and represents a monthly market share of 5.3%. YTD, 10,602 units have been registered. This is down 7.1% on August 2023 when 11,414 units were registered. The BEV market share currently stands at 4.8% of the overall market, down 0.5% on twelve months ago.

This is well below the required 10% ZEV target set and reflects a sector that is struggling to adapt, put off by the cost of electric vans a perceived lack of range and absence of a van-specific public charging network.

Peugeot registered 315 BEVs in August (34.7% share of EV market) and claimed top spot. Nissan finished second registering 101 units (11.1%), whilst Toyota took third with 82 units (9.0%). Volkswagen were fourth with 79 units (8.7%) and fifth was Citroen with 76 units (8.4%).

By range, the top two spots went to Peugeot and the e-Partner (185 units) and the e-Expert (130 units). The Volkswagen ID. Buzz Cargo van was in third with 79 units, the Nissan Townstar EV placed fourth with 74 and the Citroen e-Berlingo was fifth with 55 units. The remaining top ten spots were filled by the Renault Kangoo E-Tech (43 units), the Toyota Proace City Electric (42 units), the Toyota Proace Electric and Vauxhall Combo Electric both registering 40 units and Mercedes-Benz eVito (31 units).

After eight months, BYD (100%), Peugeot (13.3%), Nissan (13.0%) and Maxus (12.7%) are currently the only manufacturers to meet the minimum 10% ZEV mandate sales share target for 2024. Just outside and closing in is Vauxhall with 8.1%, Toyota (7.1%) and Volkswagen (6.4%). The remaining manufacturers in the top ten, Renault (5.5%), Citroen (5.4%) and Mercedes-Benz (4.5%) still have work to do.

An additional 27 BEVs from Ford, Iveco, Maxus and Mercedes-Benz (181 units – August 2023) between 3.5t-4.25t GVW, were registered as part of the Vehicle Emissions Trading Scheme (VETS) and can contribute towards overall manufacturer targets. This gave an overall BEV registration total of 908 units for August, down 30.3% year-on-year when a total of 1,303 BEVs were registered.

Used LCV market overview

With no shortage of stock at auction, it is low mileage vehicles under three years old that have been achieving the best results. Hangover base spec stock from the semi-conductor crisis remain a challenge, with buyers inevitably focusing on those vehicles that can be turned the fastest. Resistance remains for higher mileage stock or any BEV van. SMEs continue to feel the pinch of higher interest and finance rates and a higher cost of living, resulting in many operators not replacing but keeping their current vehicle for longer.

As a result, the number of vehicles sold during August was down by over 12% and down by over 2% on the same point last year. The average selling price has also fallen by more than 5% over the month and by more than 15% since last August. The current used market though remains buoyant with 15.5% more vehicles sold than in August 2019, prior to the pandemic, with an average selling price now nearly 28% higher.

Of the vehicles sold at auction during August, 75.7% were Euro 6 at an average age of 54.8 months and average mileage of 73,682 miles (75,063 miles in July). Used electric vans continue to underperform, with sales contributing to only 1.03% of the overall market, down from 1.09% in July. The average age of these vehicles fell to 49.2 months, down over 38 months, whilst average mileage also fell by over 15,850 miles to 30,929 miles. The newer stock resulted in the average selling price rising by over £2,500 over the month to just under £6,840. Euro 5 stock made up the remaining 23.2% of sales, up 0.6% on the previous period.

August in detail

The average age of sold stock fell slightly in August from 79.8 months to 79.5 months and was 3.8 months younger than twelve months ago. Average mileage over the month dropped by just under 2% to 80,677 miles and sat 1.0% lower than August 2023.

Sales of Medium sized vans continue to outweigh all others at auction, accounting for 36% of all auction sales in the month. Small vans accounted for 28.2% and Large vans 24.3%. Volumes of sold 4x4 Pickup stock accounted for only 11.4% of all sales – down 1.9%. The average sale price was £12,134, down 1.1% on July. Large vans covered more distance than any other vehicle type at an average of 86,086 miles. This was down nearly 5,200 miles on the previous month and down nearly 375 miles on 12 months ago.

First-time conversion rates improved by 1.1% to 72.7% overall in August, identical to twelve months ago. Broken down, the best conversion rates were achieved in the Small Van sector at 77.4% (up 2.5% on July), whilst a conversion rate of 70.3% (up 4.7%) in the 4x4 Pickup sector returned the lowest.

Used vehicles observed for sale in the retail market last month increased by 0.5% to nearly 46,550 units. Of these, 94.3% were diesel models, 1.8% were petrol, 0.4% were PHEV and 3.3% were BEVs. 38.7% of all vehicles on sale were valued at £20,000 or more, while 37.4% were on sale for between £20,000 and £10,000. At the lower end of the market, those vehicles on sale in the £10,000 to £5,000 price bracket made up 19.4% of the overall market, whilst 4.5% were on sale for less than £5,000. White vehicles made up over 50% of all those observed for sale followed by grey at 15.7% and silver at 10.7%. The average age of all vehicles in August increased two months to 57 months and the average mileage also increased to nearly 59,150 miles, up 4.4% on July.