Why are electric cars so popular? 

If you go back 10-15 years, electric cars were something of a novelty. They were quite expensive to buy and had limited range, which rendered them as little more than a second car for urban driving.

Now though, there are EVs on offer for less than £20,000, and others can do over 500 miles on a charge, which makes them much more viable for more people. These developments are reflected in the UK’s new car sales figures, because according to the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), 455,000 electric cars have found homes in 2026 so far. That’s up from around 10,000 in 2016.

So why are electric cars becoming so popular? Well there are a few things at play. Here are three reasons why EVs sales are booming.

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1. The price of petrol and diesel is on the rise

Over the past few years, owners of petrol and diesel cars have faced a few challenges. There have been a few fuel shortages since 2020 which resulted in massive queues at the pumps, and prices have been going up as well.

Diesel hit £2 per litre in October 2026, and petrol is currently sitting at £1.75 on average, compared to this time last year when prices were between £1.30 and £1.50 per litre for both.

Analysis from Carwow earlier this year showed that a cheap home charging tariff could save you in excess of £1,000 a year in fuel compared to a petrol or diesel car. It’s easy to see why drivers would be tempted to make the switch.

2. There’s way more choice these days to suit all budgets

In 2016 there were just 14 different electric models on sale in the UK. In 2026, there are around 170.

That’s a huge amount of choice, and there are more EVs to suit lower budgets now as well. In 2016 a Nissan Leaf cost the equivalent of around £41,000 in today’s money, and that got you a car with 124 miles of range. The new Nissan Micra costs almost half that and has almost 200 miles of range.

A top-of-the-range new Nissan Leaf also costs just over £36,000, and that car will do up to 387 miles on a charge. You get a lot more electric car for your money these days.

3. EV myths are being busted

In the early days of the electric car, there was a lot of uncertainty among drivers – some of which was justified at the time. The public charging network was nowhere near as vast or reliable a decade ago as it is now, and EVs didn’t go as far on a charge either.

Now though, there are more than 120,000 public charging stations in the UK – up from around 6,500 in 2016 – and over 15,000 of those are ultra-rapid DC chargers which can get you back on the road in as little as 15 minutes depending on the electric car you drive.

The longest range electric car in 2016 was the £130,000 (adjusted for inflation) Tesla Model S with 381 miles of range. In 2026, the new BMW i3 can do 566 miles for about half the price. You can also buy a Nissan Leaf which will go further on a charge than the Tesla.

So electric cars are cheaper to run than petrol and diesel models, they’re not as expensive as they used to be and there are loads of options out there which will go the distance. This is why I think EVs are getting so popular, and with no signs of fuel prices dropping I can see them becoming even more common on UK roads.

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