The UK electric car market hit a new milestone in July 2026, with battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) taking a 27.4% share of new car registrations — the highest ever recorded outside the traditional plate-change months of March and September.
According to New AutoMotive, 43,547 battery-electric cars were registered during July, a 49% increase compared with July 2025. The wider new car market also grew, rising 15.6% year on year to 158,728 units, with growth overwhelmingly driven by electrified vehicles.
More than 336,000 fully electric cars have now been registered in the UK in 2026, giving BEVs a 25.2% share across the first seven months of the year.
The figures mean the industry has exceeded the effective compliance threshold required under the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate for a second consecutive month. While the headline 2026 target is 33% of manufacturers' sales, the effective market-wide target falls to around 24.6% once flexibilities and CO2 credits are accounted for — and real-world sales are now ahead of that pace.
Plug-in hybrids also grew strongly, rising 36.2%, while conventional hybrids rose 11.6% and petrol registrations continued their long-term decline.
With more than 2.15 million electric cars now on UK roads (about 6.2% of the car parc), and government incentives like the £3,750 Electric Car Grant supporting demand, the pace of the transition continues to accelerate.
Thinking of joining them? See our pick of the best electric cars in the UK.
