PERSONAL leasing customers are flocking to electric vehicles ahead of next month’s expiration of the £3,500 subsidy for plug-in vehicles.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed battery electric vehicles recorded a 2.7% market share in January 2020. However, according to Leasing.com data, pure EVs accounted for 5% of all leasing inquiries in January – almost twice that of the overall new car market.

The Plug-in Car Grant (PICG) is spread evenly across the term of the lease and can reduce the monthly cost of a 36-month contract by around 25%, or £100 a month.

In a month where the government has announced that petrol, diesel and now hybrid cars would no longer be offered for sale from 2035 or even as early as 2032.

The Leasing Broker Federation and its members would like to see the grant extended to continue to acceleration the uptake of zero-emission vehicles.

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The Nissan Leaf proved to be the most popular all-electric model in January. With a range of around 168 miles, the 110kW N-Connecta 40kWh Nissan Leaf derivative proved most popular, ahead of the Tesla Model 3.

Paul Harrison, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Leasing.com, said: “Leasing businesses are responsible for the purchase of tens of thousands of electric vehicles each year and the PICG is vital in helping more consumers make the transition from petrol or diesel to electric vehicles.”

“Now that hybrid vehicles appear to have been added to the government’s ban, and speculation it could happen as early as 2032, more urgently needs to be done to continue to incentivise the uptake of electric vehicles by consumers.”

Elsewhere in the leasing market, Mercedes-Benz continued to dominate the most popular lease inquiries with three models in the January top 10. The A-Class retained its position as most enquired vehicle while the manufacturer received the most inquiries overall.

The new Kia Exceed proved to be incredibly popular in January, thanks to very attractive lease rates on the new model.

Top 10 personal lease inquiries for January:

1. Mercedes-Benz A-Class
2. Nissan Qashqai
3. Volvo XC40
4. BMW 2 Series
5. Range Rover Evoque
6. Kia Xceed
7. Volkswagen Golf
8. Mercedes-Benz GLC
9. Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class
10. Volkswagen Tiguan

Top 10 EV inquiries for January:

1. Nissan Leaf
2. Tesla Model 3
3. Volkswagen eGolf
4. Renault Zoe
5. Hyundai Ioniq
6. Kia e-Niro
7. Audi e-tron
8. Jaguar i-Pace
9. BMW i3
10. Mini Electric