For the First Time, UK Drivers Bought More Electric Cars Than Petrol Ones

A quiet threshold has been crossed on Britain’s roads. In the 12 months to May 2026, UK drivers bought 516,490 new battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and 504,010 new pure-petrol cars — meaning, for the first time over a full year, electric cars outsold petrol ones. The figures come from a Carbon Brief analysis of European vehicle-registration data published on June 25, 2026.

The shift has been building for years, and the momentum is clear in the monthly numbers. In May 2026 alone, BEV registrations jumped about 34% compared with a year earlier, while petrol sales fell roughly 14%. Electric cars are no longer a niche curiosity in the UK; they have become one of the default choices for new-car buyers, helped by a wider range of models, improving charging networks and falling battery costs.

“In the 12 months to May 2026, UK drivers bought 516,490 new battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and 504,010 new pure-petrol cars — meaning, for the first time over a full year, electric cars outsold petrol ones.”

There is an honest caveat worth stating plainly. Pure-petrol cars have slipped behind BEVs, but combustion engines overall still lead once diesel, hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles are counted — hybrids remained the single most popular category. So this milestone marks the moment electric overtook straight petrol, not the end of the internal combustion engine. The tens of millions of fuel-burning cars already on the road will take many years to cycle out.

Even so, the direction is unmistakable, and it matters for the climate. Transport is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize, and cars are a large slice of it. Every petrol car not sold is decades of tailpipe emissions avoided, especially as Britain’s electricity grid keeps getting cleaner — which means the EVs charging from it get greener every year, too. The UK crossing this line, ahead of many of its neighbours, is a sign that the switch to electric driving has moved from aspiration to everyday reality.