According to Autotrader UK's marketplace data, the average price of a new electric vehicle has fallen below the average price of a new petrol car for the first time. The average new EV sits at £42,620, and the gap to the petrol average is £785. Before declaring victory for EVs: the crossover is driven entirely by discounts, not structural cost parity. Strip out government incentives, manufacturer contributions, and retailer deals, and EVs are still around 15 percent more expensive on a like-for-like basis at recommended retail prices. The UK government's EV grant contributes up to £3,750 toward any qualifying car priced under £37,000, funded through a £650 million allocation running until the 2028 to 2029 financial year.
The discounts being applied to specific models are substantial. Autotrader cited the Vauxhall Corsa Electric top trim at an RRP of around £33,500 with a discount exceeding £14,000. The Ford Capri carried an RRP of £52,985 with £11,286 off. Manufacturer discounts sit on top of the government grant. This pressure exists because of the ZEV mandate: automakers must sell EVs as 33 percent of their fleets in 2026, rising to over 50 percent in 2028 and over 90 percent in 2033. Missing the targets means financial penalties. Discounting is currently cheaper than the fines. The number of new EV models available in the UK under £30,000 grew from 31 in March 2025 to 40 by March 2026.
Buyer interest tells a similar story. Searches for new EVs on the Autotrader platform rose around 20 percent in April 2026, partly driven by fuel price increases linked to events in the Middle East. In December 2025, for the first time, more electric cars were registered in Europe than petrol cars in the same month. The most searched EV model on Autotrader in April 2026 was the Renault 5. The most popular car overall, across all powertrains, was the VW Golf. Battery cost trajectories point toward eventual true parity without subsidies: pack costs have fallen 93 percent since 2010, from over $1,000 per kilowatt-hour to $108 per kilowatt-hour as of late 2025. The structural inflection point, where EVs and petrol cars cost the same before any incentives are applied, has not arrived yet.
Bottom line: The average price headline is real, but the mechanism is temporary policy. True parity, where the cost difference disappears without any help from governments or manufacturers, is closer than it was but still a few years out.