Ian Plummer, commercial director at Auto Trader, said: “November’s drop in electric vehicle sales is a sign of what’s to come if the Government doesn’t support the industry in making the transition by incentivising consumers on this journey, as we know private electric car registrations have been lagging that of the fleet sector for a while now.”

Across the car market, sales rose by almost a tenth last month, driven by big companies purchasing fleets of vehicles in bulk.

Commercial buyers have been able to make use of generous tax incentives to fund their purchases of EVs. Meanwhile, ordinary motorists have lost a number of subsidies in recent years. 

A £1,500 grant towards the purchase of electric cars was scrapped in June 2022, a year before the industry expected.

Official forecasts for electric car take-up were slashed by almost half last month. Sales of new battery-powered cars were expected to grow steadily until they accounted for 67pc of the market by 2027 under a prediction issued in March. 

However, that figure has now been revised down to just 38pc by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which said the take-up of EVs has been slowing.

Auto Trader has joined other industry voices in calling for VAT to be lowered for public chargers. While domestic electricity attracts just 5pc VAT, charging in public means paying the standard rate of 20pc. 

This punishes drivers travelling away from home and car owners without a driveway to charge from.