The Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid and the pure battery-electric Nissan Leaf account for more than half (57%) of all plug-in vehicles.

The RAC Foundation has analysed the latest DVLA data to see which of the 39 vehicles currently available for the Government’s plug-in car and van grants are most common on the UK’s roads.

The research found that the Mitsubishi Outlander remains the most popular plug-in vehicle in the UK with 16,100 cars licensed at the end of Q4 2015 (up 2,001 or 14% on the previous quarter).

Next comes the Nissan Leaf at 11,219 (up 778 or 7% on the previous quarter).

Combined, there are 27,319 of these two models on the road out of a total of 47,920 vehicles which could have been bought with the Government grants.

After the Mitsubishi Outlander and Nissan Leaf come the BMW i3 (3,574), Renault Zoe (3,327) and Tesla Model S (2,087).

This is the list of all 39 vehicles that are, or have been, eligible for the government’s plug-in car and van grant schemes and which were on the road in the UK at the end of Q4 2015 (the most recent date for which figures are available).

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “So far there seems to have been no stopping the march of the Mitsubishi Outlander, which has retained the top spot with the help of competitive pricing and strong marketing.

“With the Nissan Leaf still a close second to the Outlander it seems that consumers are still in two minds over whether to buy a pure electric car or a hybrid. As ever, three or four things will be key in the decision making: the upfront price, running costs, residual value and the type of driving the buyer does.

“In the coming year the hurdle for Mitsubishi and several other manufacturers will be the changes made to the plug-in car scheme on 1 March including a new tier system.

“Not only has the maximum car grant dropped from £5,000 to £4,500 per vehicle, in some cases it will be as little as £2,500.

“It is good to see a van in the top ten. The use of electric vans for deliveries in urban areas, with battery recharging done back at base each night, always seemed like a good idea to us and these numbers suggest more businesses are making the same calculation.”

 

Rank

Make and Model

Q4 2015

Q3 2015

Q2 2015

1

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (all variants)

      16,100

      14,099

      12,066

2

Nissan Leaf

      11,219

      10,441

       9,310

3

BMW i3

       3,574

       2,943

       2,484

4

Renault Zoe

       3,327

       2,401

       2,062

5

Tesla Model S

      2,087

       1,346

       1,047

6

Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid

       1,580

       1,501

       1,439

7

Volkswagen Golf GTE

       1,359

       1,025

          350

8

Vauxhall Ampera

       1,272

       1,279

       1,250

9

Audi A3 e-tron

       1,218

       1,033

          570

10

Nissan e-NV200 (all variants)

       1,047

          896

          705

11

BMW i8

       1,022

          964

          823

12

Renault Kangoo ZE

          740

          731

          719

13

Mercedes-Benz C350 e

          628

          128

            19

14

Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid

          395

          361

          336

15

Peugeot Ion

          374

          371

          368

16

Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid (all variants)

          337

          314

          299

17

Mitsubishi i-Miev

          251

          250

          252

18

Smart ForTwo Electric Drive

          212

          216

          215

19

Citroen C-Zero

          167

          199

          205

20

Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive

          162

          157

            61

21

Mercedes-Benz S500 Hybrid

          157

          159

          138

22

Kia Soul EV

          145

            83

            53

23

Volkswagen e-up!

          142

          133

          124

24

Chevrolet Volt

          122

          119

          125

25

Volkswagen e-Golf

          114

            98

            88

26

Renault Fluence

            70

            71

            71

27

Volvo Xc90 T8 Twin Engine

            38

            -  

            -  

28

Daimler Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell

            23

            21

            27

29

Ford Focus Electric

            19

            21

            23

30

Mia (all variants)

            15

            14

            12

31

Toyota Mirai

              4

              2

 

32

BMW 225xe

            -  

            -  

 

=

BMW 330e

            -  

            -  

 

=

BYD e6

            -  

            -  

            -  

=

BD Otomotiv eTraffic

            -  

            -  

            -  

=

BD Otomotiv eDucato

            -  

            -  

            -  

=

Citroen Berlingo EV

            -  

            -  

            -  

=

Peugeot ePartner

            -   

            -  

            -  

=

Smith Electric Smith Edison

            -  

            -  

            -  

 

TOTAL

      47,920

      41,376

      35,241

Some of the vehicles above might have been bought without the grant. Others might be licensed to manufacturers and dealers rather than customers.