Last week SMMT published its new heavy vehicle registration data for the first quarter of 2025 – showing the transition to zero emission transport is growing in the bus and HGV sectors – albeit at very different paces.
For the market as a whole, more than 2,530 new buses, coaches and minibuses joined UK roads, with growth across all sizes, making Q1 2025 the best start to a year since 2008. Double deckers performed particularly well, up 77.1% on the same period last year – and these vehicles are a popular mode of zero emission rollout too.
Indeed, the UK remains Europe’s largest ZEV bus market, with demand up 129.5% year on year, with 739 registered. That makes up 29.2% of all registrations, thanks to massive manufacturers investment in new models, now offering more than 20 from which to choose.
Conversely, the overall HGV market declined 12.0% in Q1, following high volumes during the last few quarters. Longer term, we have had several quarters of robust rollout to fulfill a backlog of orders since the pandemic. Given the cyclical nature of fleet renewal, fluctuations are natural, with the current dip reflecting a degree of market normalisation.
More positively, some green shoots in zero emission HGV uptake are showing once again. ZEV truck registrations rose 94%, and took a 1.0% market share – the largest ever recorded. However, we are still dealing with very small numbers – just 97 new ZEV trucks were registered.
What growth there is, comes from huge OEM investment, with more than 30 zero emission HGV models currently available. Helping more operators switch, however, requires significant support for depot investment and fast-tracking planning infrastructure so that fleets can switch sooner, rather than having to wait many years for approval of a grid connection.
