EV progress is real. So are the imbalances
Thomas McLennan, director of policy and public affairs, BVRLA
The UK’s transition to zero-emission motoring is often discussed as though it were a single, national shift with one direction of travel and one measure of success.
The reality is one filled with caveats, nuance and a host of different user groups with unique needs and their own rate of adoption.
Thomas McLennan, director of Policy and Public Affairs, BVRLA
In the latest BVRLA Road to Zero Report Card, we show a series of connected transitions moving at very different speeds. Cars are ahead of vans. Fleet is ahead of private retail. New electric vehicles are ahead of used. Home charging is ahead of public charging. Large corporates are ahead of smaller businesses. Urban use cases are ahead of rural operations and those carrying heavy payloads. The list goes on; the picture is complex.
It is important to have the full picture, otherwise we risk progress in one part of the market disguising weakness elsewhere.
There are good reasons for optimism. Fleets continue to lead the uptake of electric cars, particularly through company car and personal leasing channels. Zero-emission vehicles now account for 58% of new company car additions and 46% of personal leasing additions.
The economics are also improving in several areas. More affordable electric cars are reaching the market, with more than twice as many new models priced below £30,000 than a year ago. The gap between the cost of petrol and public charging is narrowing, while home charging continues to offer a clear financial advantage for drivers with access to off-street parking.
Some long-held assumptions about electric vehicles are being challenged too. Repair data indicates that EVs can be cheaper and quicker to repair than their petrol and diesel equivalents. Vehicle efficiency is improving, charging speeds are increasing and the aftermarket is steadily building the skills and capacity needed to support a larger electric parc.
The used market is another area where the position is becoming more encouraging, at least in the short term, while the gap between petrol prices and charging costs has been widened by global conflicts. This summer we are seeing used electric vehicles selling faster than petrol and diesel models.
We need to see that uplift take hold. A healthy used EV market is not a secondary part of the transition. It is what will make electric motoring accessible beyond the first-wave company car and salary sacrifice customer. It also has a direct influence on residual values, lease pricing and future investment decisions.
“The next phase requires more attention to the parts of the market sitting outside the comfort zone of company-provided cars and home charging”
Thomas McLennan, director of policy and public affairs, BVRLA
Those pockets of progress are real, but so are the gaps.
The van market remains the clearest area of concern. Operators face a limited range of vehicles suited to their operational needs, electric vans remain significantly more expensive than diesel alternatives, and the charging network is too often designed around cars rather than commercial vehicles.
For a van fleet, the decision is not simply whether the vehicle can complete a typical daily mileage. Operators must consider payload, route variability, downtime, depot capacity, public charging access and the effect of colder weather or heavier loads. Where those requirements cannot be met with confidence, the business case quickly falls apart.
Charging presents a similarly mixed picture.
The total number of public charge points continues to grow, with more than 121,000 installed across the UK by the end of June 2026. Live data has improved and the overall network is expanding.
Deployment alone, however, is not enough. Reliability remains inconsistent, the user experience can still be frustrating and rapid charging costs remain difficult for fleets and drivers that depend heavily on the public network.
The distinction between home and public charging is becoming one of the defining dividing lines of the transition. For a company car driver able to charge overnight on a domestic tariff, the case for electric can be compelling. For a renter, van driver, small business or urban resident without a driveway, the same calculation can look very different.
That is why broad assessments of whether ‘the EV transition’ is succeeding or failing are increasingly unhelpful. The answer depends on a cocktail of factors spanning the vehicles, customers, operating models and charging arrangements being considered.
The next phase requires more attention to the parts of the market sitting outside the comfort zone of company-provided cars and home charging.
That means targeted support for electric vans, faster delivery of reliable infrastructure designed for real-world fleet use, stronger used-vehicle confidence and a policy framework that allows operators to invest with greater certainty.
The fleet sector has shown what is possible when the vehicles, economics and infrastructure align. The task now is to make that alignment not just the case for a handful of exceptions, but the rule for everyone.
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