UK Gross sales of Electrical Autos Simply Overtook Petrol Vehicles for the First Time

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For the primary time within the UK, extra new electrical automobiles (EVs) have been bought over a 12-month interval than petrol vehicles, in line with Carbon Transient evaluation.

The information comes amid a battle over the way forward for the UK’s “zero-emissions automobile” (ZEV) mandate, which the automobile trade and a few unions are pushing to water down.

The mandate units a rising goal for the share of recent automobile gross sales that should be “zero-emissions automobiles” (ZEVs) annually — primarily “pure” or “battery” EVs that solely run on electrical energy.

The automobile trade argues that demand for these vehicles is just too low to satisfy the necessities of the ZEV mandate, even if the trade has “over-complied” up to now.

Carbon Transient’s evaluation of the newest information on new UK automobile gross sales, proven within the determine beneath, illustrates that demand for EVs has, actually, grown constantly — and it has now overtaken demand for petrol vehicles for the primary time.

Within the 12 months to Could 2026, UK shoppers purchased 516,490 new BEVs, in opposition to solely 504,010 new petrol vehicles.

Be aware that the evaluation relies on figures from the European Car Producers’ Affiliation (ACEA). Figures printed by the UK Society of Motor Producers and Merchants (SMMT) are based mostly on a barely completely different categorisation for hybrid vehicles.

All hybrids run solely on petrol or diesel gasoline, whereas additionally carrying a small battery and an electrical motor. ACEA counts these vehicles individually to petrol and diesel fashions.

In distinction, the SMMT counts what it calls “gentle” hybrids as petrol vehicles, whereas itemizing “full” hybrids — corresponding to Toyota’s Prius — in a separate class.

The ACEA information exhibits that hybrids are the preferred sort of automobile within the UK, as illustrated within the determine beneath, but in addition exhibits that their gross sales are comparatively stagnant.

Some 56,321 hybrids had been bought in Could 2026, the newest month with information from ACEA. This is a rise of 1,181 year-on-year, or simply 2%.

In distinction, EV gross sales grew 34% to achieve 43,931, whereas petrol vehicles had been down 14% to 35,068.

Plug-in hybrids, which will be run on electrical energy from the grid or from a petroleum engine, are additionally seeing comparatively speedy gross sales development, up 24% year-on-year in Could 2026 to 22,167.

(Within the UK, numberplates for “pure” EVs that solely run on electrical energy are marked out by a particular inexperienced stripe on the left-hand aspect. These stripes usually are not used for any sort of hybrid.)

The brand new evaluation for the UK follows a comparable milestone for the EU, with extra BEVs having been bought within the month of December 2025 than petrol vehicles.

The UK first noticed extra gross sales of BEVs than petrol vehicles in a single month in December 2022, however this sample has solely been repeated on a constant foundation over the previous yr.

Globally, EV gross sales grew by 20% in 2025 and accounted for one in each 4 new vehicles bought, in line with the Worldwide Power Company (IEA).

The company stated that international EV gross sales had been set to develop by one other 15% in 2026.

Article by Ho Woo Nam and Simon Evans, courtesy of Carbon Transient (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license).