UK July EV sales beat mandate path, New Automotive data shows

Aug 3 (Reuters) - Battery electric vehicle registrations in Britain jumped 49% in July from a year earlier, taking more than a quarter of the new car market and running ahead of the zero-emission vehicle mandate path for a second straight month, New AutoMotive data showed on Monday.

A total of 43,547 new battery EVs were registered in July, up from 29,226 a year earlier, giving them a 27.4% share of new car registrations, New AutoMotive said.

EVs have been gaining ground in Europe as rising fuel costs, largely driven by global oil shocks from the Iran war, steer customers toward alternatives.

While Britain's zero-emission vehicle mandate target for 2026 is 33%, the industry body estimated that the effective market-wide target falls to 24.6% after scheme flexibilities, below the year-to-date battery EV share of 25.3%.

(Reporting by Nithyashree R B in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Shreya Biswas)