BATTERY electric vehicles surged to take a 15 per cent share of new lease car registrations in the third quarter of 2020 as the Government's benefit-in-kind tax incentives took full effect.

According to the BVRLA's latest survey plug-in and hybrid vehicles overtook diesel in gaining a 36 per cent share of new lease car registrations during the same period and look set to overtake petrol very soon.

Nearly one-fifth of the BVRLA car leasing fleet now relies on some form of powertrain electrification as the fleet sector continues to drive the transition to cleaner road transport.

Diesel's share of the total lease car market fell below 50 per cent for the first time, while petrol held steady with a 34 per cent share.

The average CO2 emissions for BVRLA car leasing fleet new registrations fell from 107g/km to 105g/km in Q3 2020, a new low and around eight per cent lower than the national average.

The car leasing market, excluding PCP and Motability vehicles,saw its fleet shrink by six per cent, with the biggest reduction seen in the business fleet, down 8.7 per cent year-on-year.

This decline was driven by an 11 per cent fall in the business contract hire fleet compared to the same period of 2019.

The fleet size declines were partially offset by an increase in the consumer leasing fleet, which was up four per cent year-on-year.

"Quarter three of last year delivered the long-awaited surge in BEV registrations that we expected after the introduction of the zero-rate BiK incentive," said BVRLA chief executive, Gerry Keaney.

"A massive 21 per cent of new business contract hire car registrations were BEVs, once again demonstrating that the company car sector is driving the transition to zero emission motoring."