Motorists could make savings of up to £1000 a year by switching to an electric vehicle (EV), as petrol prices keep rising due to the Iran war.
Research from Autotrader and Zapmap shows EV fuel cost savings hit £960 in April, the highest since they started recording it in November 2023.
That could mean a boost for the EV market, where doubts have emerged about its credibility, amid concerns that demand is not growing quickly enough to meet government targets.
In the US in particular, car makers have written off billions in EV investments as demand from customers has cooled. Ford has written down nearly $20bn (£15bn), while GM wrote off more than $7bn (£5bn). Last month, consultancy EY said European and US car companies had written off £50bn in EV projects in 2025.
EY manager Constantin Gall said: “Many companies had focused their investments on growing markets and a rapid ramp-up of electric mobility. In reality, however, demand for electric cars is proving significantly weaker than forecast, particularly in the US and Europe.”
In the UK, Autotrader said electric was now the most popular fuel type for new cars on its platform for the first time.
EVs are getting cheaper to buy too – there are now 40 new EVs with a recommended retail price (RRP) below £30,000.
More than one in four (26 per cent) used EVs on Autotrader are now priced at £15,000 and below. New electric vehicles are now mostly cheaper than the petrol equivalents, once you include discounts and government grants.
Zapmap, which maps charging points and prices across the country, calculates the annual fuel cost savings by comparing a typical 80/20 split of home/public charging to petrol prices.
It comes as the average price of petrol currently stands at 158p, according to the RAC, with diesel at 188p. In both cases, that is slightly below the peak prices seen since the start of the Iran war.
But the RAC has warned that with wholesale prices for fuel rising, prices at the pump are highly likely to go up again very shortly.
Paul Hyne, at car leasing firm Lex Autolease, said: “The EV conversation has moved on. Choice has broadened, technology has matured, and more drivers are experiencing electric as part of normal life. From our perspective, financing one in eight electric vehicles on UK roads gives us a front‑row view of that progress.”
The average range of a new EV is now over 300 miles, up from 290 in January, with some models able to do 500 miles on a single charge.
The Department of Transport said there were now 120,338 public charging points in the UK.
Edmund King, AA president, said: “These new facts on the benefits of going electric are very timely. With hiked pump prices due to the Iran conflict, our AA Cars used car portal has seen a 33% increase in searches for used EVs in the last month.
“Prices of EVs, both new and used, are coming down but drivers also need to consider the full running costs of their cars, and this is where there are substantial savings. Drivers going electric can save £960 per year by charging 80 per cent at home and 20 per cent on public chargers compared to those who need to buy petrol. I estimate I have saved more than £5,000 in fuel costs on my EV over the last five years.”
Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder and COO at Zapmap, said: “We’ve been monitoring the cost of charging on the public network since November 2023. This shows that the vast majority of drivers choosing electric will enjoy total cost of ownership savings – even more so as the cost of new EVs continues to fall.”
Privately, some large car makers say there remains a cultural resistance in some areas to electric vehicles. “White van man does not want a green car,” said one.
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