The UK just crossed 2 million registered electric cars, and April gave the market its strongest monthly reading yet. SMMT data showed new car registrations up nearly a quarter on April last year, with EV sales rising almost 60%. That brought electric cars to nearly one in four of all new cars sold last month. The April bestseller was the Renault 5, available on lease for as little as £230 a month on the Techno Plus variant with the 52 kWh battery. The Kilowatt Half Hour also covered the Vauxhall Corsa GSE, an electric hot hatch arriving with 281 hp and a limited-slip differential, and returned to CATL's headline from the Beijing Motor Show: a semi-solid-state battery rated at 930 miles on the Chinese test cycle, with charging from 10 to 80% in under four minutes.
The 2-million milestone is the right number to sit with. European EV adoption crossed 30% market share in March 2026, with year-on-year growth above 50%, driven in part by Mercedes CLA and BMW iX3 demand running ahead of manufacturers' own internal forecasts. The Renault 5 leads UK sales partly because the pricing works at entry level: £230 a month undercuts the Renault 4 (previously the cheapest option) and competes against Chinese cars on monthly cost. Electrifying also confirmed that Renault has now committed to adding one-pedal driving and variable regeneration paddles to the 5, a feature already available on the Renault 4 and the Dacia Spring, completing that model family. The Corsa GSE, expected in the mid-to-high £30,000s, will arrive with the same platform and limited-slip differential as the Mokka GSE. The Lotus Carlton comparison raised in the episode is not rhetorical: the Corsa GSE's 5.5-second 0-62 is one tenth of a second slower than the 1990 Carlton, which was fast enough to be debated in the UK Parliament as irresponsible.
The episode also looked at heat pumps, prompted by a listener choosing between the Cupra Raval and Volkswagen Polo, neither of which includes one as standard. The team's verdict: for most buyers, the 10 to 20% winter efficiency gain from a heat pump is unlikely to justify the premium if priced as an option, particularly since some cars with standard heat pumps, such as the Renault 5, don't show meaningfully better winter range than comparable cars without them. On used EVs, the Vauxhall Corsa Electric is now reaching £9,700 for a 71-plate example with around 24,000 miles, and used EV dealers are actively stocking them because the Corsa badge is familiar and the barrier to a first EV purchase is lower. Insurance groups on used EVs vary more than expected: the Volkswagen e-Up sits around group 10, making it one of the cheapest cars to insure, while the Leaf and some other used models run into the mid-20s.
Bottom line: Two million UK EVs is worth marking, and the Renault 5's position as April's top seller says something real about what drives volume: a recognisable nameplate, a monthly payment that doesn't require justification, and a product that's genuinely good. The Corsa GSE has the potential to do the same thing for buyers who want something fun. Whether it can do it at the right price is the question to answer at launch.