New AutoMotive counted 99,827 new battery electric cars in September, the plate-change month, when new registration plates are issued and new car sales traditionally peak in the UK. The total was 37.5 percent higher than a year earlier and gave electric cars 28.2 percent of a market that grew 12.5 percent year-on-year. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) put the total slightly lower, at 99,199, but also record it as the strongest month yet for battery electric cars. Only conventional hybrids sold in greater numbers, and battery electric cars outsold petrol models by almost 23,000, while plug-in hybrid registrations rose 53.7 percent to take 16.6 percent of the market.
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The record came in the month diesel climbed to an all-time high, with the UK average passing £2 a litre for the first time on 2 October. Over the year to date, 469,298 battery electric cars have been registered, up 26.3 percent on the same period last year, for a 26.1 percent share. Petrol registrations are down 13.2 percent and diesel down 14 percent, leaving diesel with just 4.6 percent of the market.
Running costs in focus
“September is the biggest month of the year for car sales, and this one was the best ever for electric cars,” said Ben Nelmes, chief executive of New AutoMotive. “With fuel prices at £2 a litre, drivers are voting with their wallets. Every one of those cars means a household spending less on running costs and a country less exposed to the next oil price shock.”
Tesla registered around 16,000 battery electric cars in its second-best month ever, taking 16 percent of the electric market. BYD had its best UK month to date with around 9,000 and a 9 percent share, and Kia was third with 7.7 percent. Year to date, Tesla leads with around 10 percent of electric registrations, with Kia and BYD on around 7 percent each.
ZEV mandate
The headline zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate target for 2026 is 33 percent, although manufacturers earn additional credits by beating CO₂ targets on their petrol and diesel cars. Once these flexibilities are counted, New AutoMotive estimates the effective target across the market at 24.6 percent, meaning the market as a whole already holds more credits than compliance requires. Eighteen manufacturers beat this target in September alone. Credit balances vary widely by manufacturer, with surpluses at Tesla, BYD, Geely, SAIC, Renault and Chery and deficits at Volkswagen, Stellantis, Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes and Ford. BMW and Honda are each fewer than 2,000 credits short, and manufacturers still have three months to close the gap, with electric sales typically stronger at the end of the year.
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The government is consulting on changes to the mandate until 23 October. “The ZEV mandate is working,” Nelmes said. “With the cost of living at the top of the political agenda, ministers would be ill-advised to weaken a policy that is putting cheaper motoring within reach of millions of households.”
Vans and trucks
Electric vans also had their best month, with 4,826 registered, up 8.7 percent on September 2025. Their share dipped to 9.7 percent because the wider van market had a strong plate-change month, and stands at 10.9 percent year to date, against an effective target of 15.6 percent and a headline 24 percent. Diesel still accounted for 81 percent of September’s van registrations. Volkswagen leads electric van sales this year with 7,428, a quarter of its van registrations, followed by Ford with 6,637, or 8.9 percent of its van sales. Kia, the only high-volume van maker selling only electric models, has built a surplus of 3,590 credits. New AutoMotive sees the main barrier as charging, particularly for businesses that cannot rely on overnight depot charging.
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Electric trucks remain rare, with 31 registered in September, or 0.7 percent of the market. Since July, higher diesel prices have added an estimated £35 million a week to the fuel bills of UK haulage companies. Welch Group, which runs a 1 MW charging hub at its Cambridge depot, has modelled what opening its chargers to other operators could mean. Its internal projections show the cost of charging its own trucks, including electricity and infrastructure, falling from about 42p per kWh in 2026 to 9.1p per kWh by 2035, with a modelled annual saving against a diesel fleet of around £792,000 by then. These are company estimates, not achieved savings. “Diesel prices are proving that our decision to go electric was the right one,” said Chris Welch, chief executive of Welch Group.
Charging operators are planning for the growth. Gurjeet Grewal, chief executive of Octopus Electric Vehicles, said charging is now up to nine times cheaper than fuelling a petrol car. “The cars are arriving at scale, and the charging network has to be ready for them,” said Delvin Lane, chief executive of InstaVolt. (TF)
