Electric car sales will be supercharged in the next few years and overtake traditional combustion engined models as soon as 2025.
Auto Trader’s also predicts that the wider ‘alternatively fuelled’ car category, which included hybrids, could account for the biggest market share as soon as 2024.
The findings come as the search giant revealed the most searched for electric cars in 2020 – with the list topped by the Nissan Leaf.
In exclusive data shared with Car Dealer, Auto Trader says more than 316m searches on the platform were clocked up in 2020 for the most popular electric cars alone.
Auto Trader’s commercial director Ian Plummer said: ‘Over the last few years we’ve seen consumer sentiment towards electric grow steadily, and whilst conversion from consideration to purchase remains relatively low, it is accelerating as the latest models become ever more attractive, while aspirational brands like Tesla help shift consumer perception.
‘When they become more affordable and the required infrastructure improves, we’re confident we’ll see adoption levels increase significantly and rapidly.’
Auto Trader said that a quarter of its users are currently considering an electric car, according to its latest poll, which asked 600 users about their car purchase intentions.
Searches and advert views for electric cars are surging on the site too – up 93 per cent in November 2020 compared with the same month the year before.
In contrast, searches for petrol cars increased by just 0.6 per cent in the same period and diesel car searches fell 7.7 per cent.
Electric car buyers are typically older, 33 per cent are over 55, and more affluent with 33 per cent earning more than £75k a year.
Auto Trader also found electric car buyers live in wealthier areas with the top five postcodes mostly made up of wealthy London boroughs.
The classified advertising giant shared the Top 25 most searched for electric cars with Car Dealer for 2020.
Most searched for electric cars in 2020
1. Nissan Leaf – 58m searches
The Nissan Leaf was the most searched for electric car in 2020 with 58m searches and 1.2m advert views.
2. Renault Zoe – 40.7m
The French firm’s electric car offering has had its range boosted in recent years making it more desirable. As a used buy, it represents good value.
3. Jaguar I-Pace – 32.7m
Jaguar’s first all electric car has been a success for the brand, even clocking up places in the top 10 best selling new car lists during the first lockdown. It’s clearly popular among used buyers too.
4. Audi E-Tron – 31.6m
Audi’s first foray into the EV world was a chunky SUV. Interestingly it appears well ahead of the first Tesla on the list (in 11th) showing brand loyalty counts for a lot.
5. BMW i3 – 17.3m
BMW’s quirky electric city car has a funky interior, unique looks and clever rear doors that open in the opposite direction to normal. While the styling won’t be for everyone, the brand name counts for a lot.
6. Volkswagen e-Golf – 13.5m
The popular hatchback was the forerunner to the brand’s ID.3 in electric form and has proved popular with second hand searchers.
7. MG ZS – 12.6m
An impressive performance for the Chinese brand with the electric ZS pushing its way into the top 10. The electric SUV offers great bang for buck and makes a great used buy.
8. Hyundai Kona – 11.8m
The Kona electric has chunky off road looks and Korean car reliability and is a popular used electric car buy.
9. Peugeot e-208 – 11.3m
Peugeot’s stunning 208 offers impressive range and hot hatch looks and is already proving popular among electric car searchers. And we don’t blame them!
10. Hyundai Ioniq – 9.5m
The only manufacturer to take two slots in the top 10, Hyundai’s ‘uniquely’ styled Ioniq rounds out the top 10 most searched for electric cars in 2020.
- 11. Tesla Model S – 8.7m
- 12. Volkswagen ID.3 – 7.8m
- 13. Porsche Taycan – 7.5m
- 14. Mercedes EQC – 7.4m
- 15. Vauxhall e-Corsa – 6m
- 16. Kia e-Niro – 5m
- 17. Kia Soul electric – 4.6m
- 18. Smart – 4.3m
- 19. Volkswagen e-Up! – 3.8m
- 20. Tesla Model X – 3.1m
