What is an electric car?

All you need to know about EVs

Electric cars are the future with the UK Government banning the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2030 (petrol- or diesel-hybrids have until 2035).

So, if we’re all going to be driving EVs in the future, it makes sense that we give you the lowdown on what it’s like to own and drive an electric vehicle.

At the risk of stating the obvious, an electric vehicle is not like a conventional petrol or diesel car. It may look the same from the outside, but under the metal there are big differences.

The biggest is what propels the car. We’re used to seeing internal combustion engines (ICE) – the big lumps of metal, in an engine bay, usually at the front of the car.

In an all-electric vehicle, that’s all gone, along with the gearbox, the exhaust system and the fuel tank. Instead, there’s a battery pack and motor – and that’s pretty much it.

We’re simplifying a little of course but consider this, an ICE vehicle contains more than 2,000 moving parts. An EV? Around 20. That means they’re simpler to understand, use and maintain.

Our complete electric car guide will take you on a step-by-step journey to completely understand what an EV is, how an electric car works and some of the benefits of living with an EV.

A brief history of the electric car

Let’s start at the beginning. Electric cars are the future but they’re also the past. Way back in the 1800s, electric cars shared the roads with their petrol-engined siblings, just like today.

While Carl Benz (of Mercedes fame) was busy filing the first patent for a motor car in 1886, it was actually two years earlier when British inventor Thomas Parker, who also electrified the London Underground, was driving around in Wolverhampton in the first production electric car powered by rechargeable batteries.

Over the next decade, electric cars popped up in Germany and then in the US, where the Electrobat was used as a New York Taxi, with a top speed of 20mph and a range of 25 miles. In 1899, the rocket-shaped Jamais Content hit 105.88kph as technology advanced and world records tumbled.

However, the discovery of oil, and the vast amounts of it, at the turn of the century sparked the transition to internal combustion engines, plus Henry Ford pioneered the mass production of cars on assembly lines and developed the affordable Model T. And the world never looked back.

That is, at least, until the 60s and 70s and a slew of oil crises, when the topic of electric cars found its way back onto the agenda.

Nothing much happened until the 1990s, when a few next-generation EV prototypes emerged from leading manufacturers before the lithium-ion battery was developed and changed the game forever, bringing performance and range to electric cars like the Nissan LEAF and Tesla Roadster. Leading us to the present day and the wealth of electric cars and vans that would make Mr Parker proud.

How does an electric car work?

The most important part in a fully electric car is the battery. It supplies the power to the motor to move an electric vehicle.

The motor is the part of an EV that takes the electrical energy in the battery and uses it to drive the wheels around. It does the same job as the engine in an ICE car, but it only has one moving part – a real contrast to the thousands of parts in an engine.

Many EVs just have the one motor, driving one set of wheels. However, EVs with a bit more power on tap can sometimes have two motors – one on each axle, driving the front and rear wheels, which means that it has four-wheel drive.

The electric motor also has one other important advantage over an ICE engine, in its power delivery. A combustion engine has to build up to spinning at several thousand revs, when it delivers its maximum power. An electric motor, on the other hand, will deliver maximum force the very moment it starts spinning, which is the instant you press the accelerator pedal. This instant acceleration when driving an EV can make it great fun to drive.

The other aspect of the way an EV works is that there is only one gear, so the only time you have to shift is when reversing or parking. The single gear offers a good blend of acceleration and top speed, so it can cope with every driving eventuality.

What is regenerative braking and one-pedal driving?

Regenerative braking – also known as regen braking or one-pedal driving – is a clever, range-boosting system fitted to every electric car on sale.

The regenerative braking system works by saving the kinetic energy that is normally lost as heat when you brake and pumping it back into the battery. It does that by allowing electric motors to spin in reverse and is similar to the Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems – or KERS for short – used to power the latest hybrid F1 cars.

It’ll recover energy when you touch the brake pedal or simply lift off the accelerator. The amount of charge you can add to your battery using regenerative braking varies depending on your car, your driving style and route (regen braking is way more effective in stop-start city driving than on motorways).

However, on average using regenerative braking can add around 20% in range. That means over a 100-mile journey, you’ll reclaim about 20 miles.

One-pedal driving is a type of regenerative braking where if you lift your foot off the accelerator, the electric car will come to a complete stop without you ever needing to press the brake. Not all electric cars can do full one-pedal driving, and often feature levels of regen braking so the driver can change settings to suit their preferred driving style.

Can you tow with an electric car?

It’s a common misconception that EVs aren’t capable of towing – they absolutely can. In fact, the instant torque that comes with an electric motor means they actually have more pulling power than most petrol and diesel equivalents. Plus, with no gear changes, the drive will be smoother and calmer – great for any snoozing kids.

Electric cars are also a little heavier than ICE vehicles due to the battery that sits on the floor. This is an advantage when towing as the car will feel more stable at higher speeds when towing.

Just like petrol or diesel cars, different electric models have different maximum towing weights. This ranges from the heavy haulers like the BMW iX and Tesla Model X at over 2,000kg (enough for a four to six berth caravan) to the Kia EV6 and Hyundai IONIQ 5 at over 1,500kg (more suited to two-berthers).

But surely the range of an electric car will be massively reduced by towing? Clearly, asking your electric car to tow a heavy weight will put more demand on your battery and as a result expected range will reduce. In some cases, this can be as much as 50% but it relies on a number of factors.

Firstly, this isn’t exclusive to EVs. Petrol or diesel cars will use more fuel when towing as caravans are heavy, plain and simple. Clearly a small two-berth caravan will demand less power than a mansion on wheels.

Your speed can also play a big part in getting to your destination on a single charge. Just like regular driving, a small decrease in your speed can result in a massive range increase as the effects of air resistance increases exponentially.

So, depending on how far you need travel and the route, taking the slower option with less high-speed roads may be quicker in the long run.

Electric car batteries explained

When we talk about the range of an EV, that’s all about how far the power in the battery will take the car. It is also, at the moment, by far the expensive component in an EV and the reason why electric cars cost more than comparable ICE cars.

Most EVs currently on sale use lithium-ion batteries, which is the same type of battery that you’ll find in a smartphone or laptop – but a lot bigger and able to store a lot more energy.

Lithium-ion is the preferred form of battery chemistry (the chemicals inside the battery) because they have a better power-to-weight ratio than other battery types, so you get more power out of a lithium-ion battery than, for example, a nickel-cadmium battery.

That said, alternatives are being considered and we’ll see battery technology develop over the next few years.

How do electric car batteries work?

Batteries are made up of individual cells, packaged together in modules, with a number of modules then combined to make the battery pack, which is fitted as one unit in an EV.

When you choose your new EV, you might find that you have a choice of battery pack size. The size of the pack will be expressed in kWh, or kilowatt hours, a way of describing how much power (the kilowatt part) will use over a period of time (the hour bit).

The more kWh in a battery, the more energy you’ll have available. If you have a relatively small EV with a battery over 60kWh, for example, you can expect a range of 250-300 miles. A larger, heavier car, however, might have the same size battery, but the range won’t be the same, because it has to use more energy to shift the bigger car.

Battery size isn’t the only factor in how far an EV can go on a single charge – there’s all kinds of clever software that the brainiacs working for car companies (and their suppliers) are developing, which somehow manage to wring more range out of a battery – but, as with many things in life, bigger is often better.

How long do electric car batteries last?

We’re used to batteries in our smartphones and laptops losing charge quicker after a few years and having to plug in every night. So, perhaps rightfully, you might assume the same for the batteries in electric cars – they use the same lithium-ion technology after all.

Well, fortunately, you can rest easy. Your electric car battery will not need upgrading or replacing. It’s good for many, many years and even more miles. And here’s why.

Clever engineers have developed advanced battery management systems that ensure the long-term health of your battery, such as preventing over-heating. That means, that yes, while lithium-ion batteries degrade over time, the one in your car will happen extremely slowly.

Don’t just take our word for it though, look at the evidence. The Nissan LEAF launched in 2010 and over half a million have been sold. Guess how many have experienced battery failure… three. Less than 0.0006%.

Fleet management companies have found that the average health of a battery after five years is still 89.9% while some companies are now offering 10-year warranties on their battery packs to give you complete peace of mind.

How are EV batteries recycled in the UK?

Batteries are made from a number of valuable materials and it’s vital that when a battery does come to the end of its life they can be recycled and recovered.

The most common way to recycle a battery is to upcycle it into a ‘second life’ application. Electric cars put large demands on a battery but ‘second life’ applications, such as remote energy storage, which require less hard work are perfect jobs for a former EV battery.

When battery health does fall below operational standards, the raw materials in the battery are recovered to make new batteries rather than just sent to a scrapheap. Over time this will reduce the sourcing impact of EVs, as much of the materials we need will already be out of the ground.

Charging habits to preserve battery health

Electric vehicle batteries are extremely reliable and so you don’t really need to worry about its health too much – the battery management systems will do most of the heavy lifting.

Don’t believe us? Well, manufacturers like Toyota and Lexus are now offering 10-year warranties on their batteries while eight years, or 100,000 miles, is fairly standard. That sort of support should give you complete peace of mind when it comes to long term battery health.

Of course, as with any lithium-ion battery, electric car power packs do degrade but it happens extremely slowly. Here are a few tips to optimise the battery life in your electric car:

• Keep charge between 20% and 80% where lithium-ion batteries work best
• Don’t charge if you don’t need to, always plugging in will degrade the battery faster
• Mix fast charging with longer, slower charging sessions to keep cells balanced
• Stick to the manufacturer’s routine servicing schedule for regular system checks and updates

Understanding the health of your electric car’s battery

Batteries are complex bits of technology and are sealed units that only qualified technicians can access. However, there are a few basic terms that you should understand so you can keep an eye on the health of your electric car battery.

• State of Charge (SoC): This is the amount of charge you have left and is displayed as a percentage (just like your smartphone)
• State of Health (SoH): Sometimes even at 100% SoC, you won’t get the range you expect. Really only a factor in used EVs, it means the battery health is slightly degraded.
• State of Balance (SoB): Electric car batteries are made up of thousands of cells which charge and discharge as you use the battery. They don’t all do so equally so can get out of sync and prevent the battery ever charging to full performance. This can be resolved by plugging in to a slow, trickle charger for up to 24 hours to allow cells to auto rebalance.
• State of Power (SoP): This is the battery’s ability to either receive or deliver power at any given moment. A number of factors impact this, including the car’s charging curve as well as temperature.

Will my electric car battery go flat in the winter?

Flat batteries in cars are a symptom of being left parked up for long periods of time, but are flat batteries more common in electric cars?

The short answer is no. Lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles discharge extremely slowly when left unused for long periods of time, so in reality a two week holiday is unlikely to cause you any issues. For example, even in extreme cold, an EV battery will lose less than 5% over a month.

The reason your EV may not start after being left is actually the same as a petrol or diesel car: the 12-volt lead acid battery. Electric cars use this small battery, just like petrol and diesel cars, to run basic electrical systems and also power the vehicle start up (switches and relays on an EV, an ignition starter motor on an ICE vehicle).

If you’re leaving your electric car for an extended period and are worried about the 12V battery going flat, then consider a trickle charger attached to this to protect it from running empty.

Is it bad to charge your EV overnight?

It is not bad to charge your EV overnight, in fact it’s one of the most cost effective ways to keep your EV battery topped up. That’s because smart energy tariffs exist that provide cheaper electricity for home EV charging at off-peak times – often overnight.

Electric cars have clever battery management systems that prevent overcharging, too, so there’s no worry about your car being plugged in overnight and hitting 100%. This sort of extended trickle charging can also be good for battery health as it helps balance cells.

It’s worth noting that you don’t always need to plug in overnight, though, as electric car batteries operate best between 20%-80% and continual charging to 100% can accelerate battery degradation.

Do fast chargers damage electric vehicle batteries?

Fast, rapid or ultra-rapid charging does not damage electric vehicle batteries.

Studies by engineering companies show that even if you only ever plug your electric car into rapid chargers the impact on battery health is minor.

That’s mainly down to battery management systems that protect the battery from damage by monitoring temperature, voltage and charging rates.

What is the range of an electric car?

The range of an electric car is simply how far the vehicle can go on a full battery charge – a bit like how long your smartphone lasts but measured in miles rather than hours.

There are many factors that determine range – the most obvious being the size of your lithium-ion battery. Size really does matter here as the bigger the battery, the further you can go before needing to recharge.

Since the first EV in 2010, batteries have got bigger and therefore range has increased, with the average real-world range now standing at over 200 miles. Plenty for most people’s journeys for a week or two.

What common things drain your electric car battery and by how much?

It’s not just driving that requires charge from your electric car battery. For example, does driving with air-conditioning drain battery faster? Should you turn the radio off to increase range?

Let’s take a look at the most common technology on electric cars and how much each impacts your electric vehicle range.

• Climate control: this is the single biggest demand on your electric vehicle, requiring around 3-4kW to operate (or around 5-7 miles for every hour driven). By contrast, heated seats and steering wheels are much more efficient
• Lighting: fog lights, brake lights and headlights use a tiny amount of energy
• On-board technology: electric cars are packed with technology like large touchscreens, USB chargers and sound systems but even with everything running you’re still only impacting range by around one mile per hour
• Security systems: things like windscreen wipers, central locking, ABS or remote connectivity also drain a small amount of energy but it’s won’t visibly impact your range

Overall, all the systems on your car will require a little over 5kW of power – that’s about 10 miles for every hour driven.

How much range do electric cars lose in the cold and why?

The batteries in your electric car create electricity to power the motor by lithium ions moving from the negative side of the battery (cathode) to positive side (anode).

When it’s cold (or in extreme heat), this chemical reaction is slower. In turn, this makes the battery slightly less efficient and therefore capable of fewer miles of range.

It’s estimated that once you hit freezing, the impact on electric car range is around 10 to 20%. That means for a car with 200 miles range on a nice day, on a frozen winter morning you’re more likely to get 160 miles.

That’s still plenty of mileage to do the average daily commute many times over – and one of the reasons that one of the biggest markets for EVs is Norway, where average daily temperatures in the winter are sub-zero.

What is a heat pump and how can it help increase electric car range?

You might associate heat pumps with supplying efficient, low carbon heating to your home, but electric cars also make use of a heat pump to deliver efficient in-car heating.

Traditionally, heat pumps have not been used because the waste heat from internal combustion engine cars could be repurposed to help heat the cabin. By contrast, electric motors create very little waste heat and so the answer is a fan heater which can be inefficient.

So, instead, engineers turned to heat pump technology – basically a home fridge but in reverse. It takes external heat, compresses it at high pressure and then pumps it round the cabin in a matter of seconds.

The heat pump is super-efficient and tests show that mileage drops 10% less in EVs with heat pumps compared to those using a fan heater. Even better, a heat pump enables efficient remote pre-conditioning, which means you can set your car to a temperature and let it defrost from the comfort of your home.

How to maximise the range on your electric car by the way you drive

The average electric car can now travel well over 200 miles on a single charge and combined with an ever-growing public electric vehicle charging network, range anxiety is a thing of the past.

But even the most diligent driver might find themselves running low from time to time – or perhaps you just want to save money by topping up less regularly.

So how can you increase the efficiency of your electric car by the way you drive to maximise range? Efficiency is rated in miles per kWh with the average car achieving around 3-4 miles per kWh. Here a few tips to eek out a few extra miles per kWh.

• Route planning: Planning ahead by taking a more eco-friendly route (i.e. avoiding big hills or extensive high-speed motorway sections) can add range. Google Maps now offers a handy ‘green’ route that will be more efficient.
• Smooth acceleration: Harsh acceleration away from traffic lights can really hurt range. A smooth getaway will make a big difference to your efficiency.
• Check your speed: Cruising consistently at 70mph will decrease range as EVs are optimised to be most efficient at 50-60mph.
• Anticipate the road: Avoid harsh braking by reading the road ahead – it’s safer and will enable a smoother journey and adding miles to your range.
• Regenerative braking: Taking advantage of this technology can add about 20% to your range by recovering energy when you slow down.

What is WLTP and how does it impact the real-world range of my electric car?

You will often see range referred to as either real-world range or manufacturer range. The manufacturer range calculation is based on tests known as the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) – an industry standard for all vehicles (EVs, petrol, diesels and hybrids).

The test is conducted in lab conditions to ensure consistency between vehicles with the car subjected to a series of driving cycles on a dynamometer (or rolling road). These are designed to mimic stop-start traffic, city driving, suburban driving and higher speed driving. Once complete, some calculations are done to give the estimated WLTP mileage.

In reality, it’s hard to achieve these figures due to a range of reasons: temperature, speed, acceleration, terrain, battery age and cabin weight. That’s where the real-world range comes in, providing EV drivers with a more accurate expectation.

General estimates say that an EV can achieve between 80-90% of its quoted WLTP range figure in real-world driving, so we’d use that basis to calculate longer journeys.

Living with an EV: the benefits

Living with an EV can be as easy or even easier – than living with a petrol or diesel car. You’ll be driving on the same roads, with the same rules, in a car that’s smoother and more straightforward to drive.

Here are some of the benefits driving an electric car can bring to your life, and those around you.

• Charging is a nicer experience than refuelling: The electric car recharging process is much more civilised than filling a big tank full of smelly, flammable liquid at a pump, particularly if you can charge at home.
• EV charging is cheaper: Even with the rise in energy prices charging at home is still better value than refuelling, and that’s still true even if you charge on the public network.
• Electric cars are quieter: An electric car is in a different league when it comes to the absence of noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) compared to a diesel or petrol car. It’s not just about what you hear, it’s also about what you feel. With no gear changes to think about and feel it’s incredibly smoot. Many EV drivers report feeling calmer in their electric cars as a result.
• There’s more space in an electric car: By removing all complex mechanics associated with a petrol or diesel car (e.g. gearbox, fuel tank, engine, exhaust) and replacing it with an electric motor, battery pack and smart electronics you save a lot of space. That means electric cars often feel roomier in the cabin and feature boot space under the bonnet.
• Electric cars have fewer things to go wrong: Your typical modern petrol or diesel engine has over 2,000 separate components that’s just in the engine itself. By contrast the electric motor in an EV has fewer than 20 parts needed to make it run.
• Electric cars have more tech: Carmakers have put technology at the heart of the latest electric cars. As well as clever electronic safety systems, there are now features such as over-the-air updates that can improve the in-car touchscreen systems over time, and even increase the performance and range of your car. That’s not to mention the exciting new dashboard designs and digital wing mirrors.
• Electric cars are planet friendly: Although EVs use more carbon in their production process (a process which is rapidly becoming more eco-friendly over time) you start paying that back as soon as you drive. Countless studies show that EVs positively impact climate change and are much better for the environment over the life cycle of the car because they don’t emit any CO₂ during use. What’s more, there are no nasty pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and particulates, improving the local air quality for those around you.

Electric car running costs explained

Fortunately, there’s nothing too different about the processes involved in running an EV compared to a petrol or diesel car. But you might just find yourself with more cash in your pocket once you’ve done the sums on common running costs like car tax, parking, insurance and servicing.

With tax breaks and other incentives to switch to an EV, you can reap the financial rewards in both the short and long term when you buy or lease an electric car.  To make an accurate comparison you’ll have to calculate the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for EVs compared to petrol and diesel cars. On top of purchase price and EV charging, this includes:

• electric vehicle car tax (including Benefit-in-Kind)
• insurance
• tolls such as congestion or ULEZ charges
• electric vehicle grants
• servicing, maintenance and repair (SMR) costs

How much does it cost to tax an electric car?

Previously, electric cars were exempt from road tax (known as vehicle excise duty). But from 1 April 2025 the rules change. EVs registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 will pay £20 a year, and those registered after 1 April 2017 will pay the flat £195 rate. For those registered on or after 1 April 2025, the first year will be £10, with the second year onwards reverting to the standard £195.

New electric and zero emission vehicles registered on or after 1 April 2025 with a list price exceeding £40,000, are also subject to the expensive car supplement. This brings EVs in line with the current rules for petrol or diesel cars.

How does Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) affect electric cars?

If you’re a fleet operator or company car user you’re in luck, as electric vehicles offer the biggest savings yet.

Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax is payable on cars provided by employers for employees to use for both business and personal use. Classified as a benefit, the employee is required to pay a certain level of tax.

Currently this tax rate is decided by the level of CO₂ emissions the vehicle emits in official (WLTP) testing. For electric vehicles the Benefit-in-Kind rate is lower than a petrol or diesel, increasing 1% year-on-year until 2027 when it will reach 5%. After this, it’ll rise by 2% until 2029 when it reaches 9% – by comparison, at this point BiK for a non-EV will be 39% and even a hybrid vehicle will be 19%.

To calculate your BiK payments you’ll need the rate applicable to the car, the car’s P11D value (its price minus VAT and registration fees) and your income tax bracket. For example:

For an electric car with a P11D value of £30,000 and a BiK rate of 2%, run by an employee in the 20% tax bracket, that employee pays £120 a year.

For a diesel car (a VW Golf 2.0 TDI Life DSG) valued at £29,445 that has a Benefit-in-Kind rate of 28%, run by an employee in the 20% tax bracket, that employee pays £1,649 a year.

How much does it cost to insure an electric car?

Electric cars are so common now that you shouldn’t have any issue finding an insurer. All the major players you can find on comparison websites will offer you cover, while there are also specialist insurance companies who will tailor policies for EVs.

You’ll likely find that premiums may be a little higher than a petrol or diesel equivalent because the cost of repairs is often slightly more expensive due to specialist parts and tools needed (the flip side of this is that there’s less to go wrong on an EV).

However, cost of repairs is only one factor in the insurance premium algorithm; driver profile, location, mileage and vehicle type play a part so it’s not quite as straightforward to say EVs are more expensive to insure.

It’s also true that as more and more EVs are sold, insurance costs will become lower as the specialist parts and tools will become normalised and therefore cheaper.

EVs in ULEZ and Clean Air Zones

More good news for EV drivers, zero-emissions cars and vans are exempt from the Congestion Charge in London, as well as the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) and Clean Air Zones in other major UK cities.

The charge for London’s Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ), which covers all of central London and extends almost to the M25 in each direction, is £12.50 a day. In addition, the London Congestion Charge is £15, and operates seven days of a week with reduced hours at the weekend.

Clean Air Zones (CAZ) are primarily designed to improve air quality in urban environments. By charging more polluting vehicles that enter the zone, the hope is that it reduces the volume of cars doing so, while incentivising motorists to switch to cleaner forms of transport.

Health professionals estimate that pollution leads to up to 36,000 deaths a year, while annual costs amount to more than £20 billion. After cancer, heart disease and obesity, air pollution is fourth biggest threat to public health in the UK.

Excluding London, which operates a larger Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), there are eight UK cities operating Clean Air Zones as of March 2025, with prices ranging from £7 to £100 depending on vehicle type. They are:

• Bath (Class C)
• Birmingham (Class D)
• Bradford (Class C)
• Bristol (Class D)
• Portsmouth (Class B)
• Sheffield (Class C)
• Newcastle and Gateshead (Class C)

While Class A and B focuses on public transport and private hire vehicles (with B adding HGVs), Class C also includes private vans and minibuses. Class D adds private cars, while the local authority can also include motorcycles. To avoid a charge in a Clean Air Zone, petrol and diesel cars must comply with the following Euro engine standards:

• Petrol cars, vans, minibuses and other specialist vehicles have to comply with Euro 4 for NOx. These will mostly have been registered with the DVLA after 2005, but some cars meeting the standard have been available since 2001.
• Diesel cars must be Euro 6, to meet NOx and particulate matter (PM) standards. These are mostly cars that have been registered with the DVLA after September 2015.
• Diesel vans, minibuses and other specialist vehicles also have to meet Euro 6. All new diesel vans sold from September 2016 should meet this standard.
• Older diesel cars are the main target of the measures, but we expect the regulations to tighten up in the coming years as climate and pollution issues become more acute.

Do electric cars get free parking?

There’s no straight answer to this one as each borough or car park operator has their own rules. Generally speaking, councils don’t offer free parking but will offer residents with an EV a subsidised rate on permits.

In supermarkets or shopping centres where you plug into their chargers you’ll often find that your parking is subsidised or free, but again you’ll need to check individual rules and make sure of the limit you can stay to charge without paying.

What grants can you get for electric cars and electric vans in the UK?

The Plug-in Car Grant (PiCG) came into fruition way back in 2011. Launched by the UK government to incentivise the electric car revolution, it provided a discount of up to £5,000 off the list price of a new zero emission car. Lower discounts were offered for plug-in hybrids until around 2018.

The scheme was considered hugely successful by many, with the number of EVs registered in the UK increasing from less than 1,000 to several hundreds of thousands in a decade. As EVs hit the mainstream, the PiCG was gradually reduced, eventually falling to £1,500 by the end of 2021.
The Plug-in Car Grant scheme was officially ended in the UK in June 2022.

While the Plug-in Car Grant is no more, van drivers and businesses will be pleased to hear that the UK government still offers the Plug-in Van Grant as a discount off the purchase price.

Helping to incentivise businesses into going green, the size of the Plug-in Van Grant is dependent on the size of the vehicle you are buying.

Small vans are eligible for a discount of up to £2,500. To be eligible for this the van must have a gross vehicle weight of less than 2,500kg, emit less than 50g/km of CO2 and offer a range of at least 60 miles. Larger vans, those up to 4.25 gonnes, are eligible for a £5,000 grant.

The Plug-in Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle Grant is also still in place for vehicles costing up to £50,000, while taxi drivers can get £4,000 off purchasing a new zero emission black cab (as well as other similar models).

Electric car maintenance costs explained

Over the last decade the number of switches, buttons and touchscreens in our cars (and in our lives) has gone through the roof. And now we’re moving to electric cars that probably means there’s even more to worry about when you’re behind the wheel.

Actually, no. While there’s plenty of new lingo that you’ll need to get up to speed with, the owning and running of an EV is actually a lot simpler and cheaper.

Servicing and maintaining an electric car

The first thing to note is that electric cars have a lot fewer parts than a petrol or diesel. An internal combustion engine has about 2,000 individual components to get you from A to B, where an EV has something like 20.

That has two benefits. One, there’s less to go wrong so you have to spend less time visiting your local garage and, secondly, average maintenance costs can be as much as 50% less than for an ICE car.

You’ll still need to follow the manufacturer’s scheduled servicing recommendations, whether you visit the dealer network or an independent garage (make sure they’re fully trained to work on EVs). You won’t need to change your oil at a regular service but other things such as brake pads, brake discs and fluids will all need checking and maintaining on a regular basis.

Do electric cars need a MOT?

The quick answer is yes. Just like your petrol or diesel cars, EVs require a yearly MOT to check that your vehicle is roadworthy. This includes checking things like lights, brakes, tyres, number plate visibility and windscreen wipers.

There’s one key difference for electric cars and vans, though, as there’s no need for the inspector to carry out a noise or emissions test.

Just like all new cars, electric vehicles are exempt from MOT for the first three years. Once your car is older than three years, you’ll follow the usual yearly schedule with pricing (normally around £50) the same regardless of your fuel type.

Electric cars vs petrol, diesel, hybrid and hydrogen cars

Electric cars share the road with a whole range of other vehicles, those powered by petrol and diesel as well as hybrid cars plus some hydrogen vehicles.

Each have their pros and cons but more and more money is being invested into electric vehicles. This means any compromises you once had to make when owning an EV is all but gone.

Electric cars are cheaper, smoother, cleaner and quieter than petrol, diesel and hybrid cars, while the lack of hydrogen refuelling stations means EVs are more convenient than a fuel-cell electric vehicle.

HEV, BEV or PHEV explained

The electric revolution is happening now, and the stats are there to prove it: electric cars regularly feature in the top 10 best-selling cars in the UK, and we’ve surpassed a million EVs on our roads.

But the revolution started a while ago with a transition away from cars powered purely by internal combustion engines in favour of hybrids. These have been around for decades, and while they don’t offer the same benefits as fully electric cars they have helped reduce emissions from transport over time, and act as a stepping stone for motorists preparing for their first EV.

But what is the real difference between a hybrid car and an electric car (or battery electric vehicle – shortened as BEV)? And what are the different types of hybrids available? There’s more diversity than ever in what powers our cars on the road.

Let’s take Mild Hybrid Vehicles (MHEV) first. It’s a fairly new word and in reality they’re not really electric at all. It’s an ICE car that uses a small motor, powered by a tiny 48V battery, to give the engine a boost when pulling away.

Next is the Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV). If you’ve ever used a ride-hailing app the chances are you’ll have been in the backseat of a Toyota Prius. That’s a HEV. These use electric power but aren’t electric cars in their truest sense as they combine a motor with a traditional petrol, or in rare cases, diesel engine. The battery is charged by driving rather than plugging in, and when charge runs dry, the car will switch to the ICE engine. HEVs come with tax breaks and lower emissions but they’ll be phased out from 2035.

Then we have a Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle (PHEV). As the name suggests, these feature a plug just like an electric car, which you use to charge up a small battery. When you’re out of juice the car will use the petrol or diesel engine to keep you going. The battery pack is usually only good enough for 20 to 30 miles of range so if you can keep this topped up and drive in town they can be a good green option – just not as green as a pure EV.

The final option is a hydrogen-powered car – often referred to as a Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV). They’re technically a hybrid as they combine a regular battery that’s powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The fuel cell uses compressed hydrogen and oxygen from the air to produce electricity. This electricity then powers an electric motor that drives the wheels. The only bi-product from this entire process is water.

Hydrogen cars: are they the future?

In the current technology race, hydrogen cars remain super-niche but score positively in opinion polls for their strong range and lack of behavioural change.

The refuelling process is pretty similar to filling a car with petrol or diesel. You swipe your bank card on the pump, lock the fuel nozzle into place and allow 700 bars of pressurised hydrogen to flow. Within a few minutes the entire process is complete, signed off by the sound of a humpback whale surfacing somewhere in the distance. That big old whoosh is actually depressurised gas being expelled from the on-site hydrogen storage tanks that feed the pumps. In fact, the only thing that does feel different is moving the economy scale from a miles per gallon metric to kg per 100km.

The trouble is the scarcity of refuelling sites. While the UK electric vehicle charging network has thousands of charging points across the UK, according to UK H2 Mobility, there are currently just a handful of hydrogen filling stations in the UK, many of which are located within the M25.

Unfortunately, existing filling station infrastructure can’t be used for a hydrogen fuel pump, either. Because hydrogen is incredibly difficult to store and transport, these filling stations will require lots of adaptation, and enough space to have an electrolysis set-up on site that (hopefully) embraces green hydrogen (more on that below). All possible, but it just makes it a trickier and more expensive design challenge, which may help to explain the limited growth.

But are hydrogen cars really that green? Well, how clean hydrogen is will depend on how the hydrogen is produced in the first place. The cleanest process is electrolysis, whereby you put a current through pure water to split out hydrogen from the wet stuff. If the process is done using renewable energy, it’s known as green hydrogen. If it’s connected via the grid, then it’s called yellow hydrogen.

Taking that all into account, it’s hard to promote hydrogen as a viable solution for private cars although we may still see some advances in certain sectors of the automotive industry, such as the heavy goods vehicles.

Are electric cars greener than petrol and diesel cars?

The answer may seem obvious, electric cars don’t produce emissions and therefore are better for the planet. While that’s very true, the full answer to why electric cars are greener than petrol, diesel and hybrid cars is slightly more complex.

Any consideration needs to take into account the whole lifespan of a vehicle – this includes how the materials for the car are sourced, how the car is made, how the car is used and how it’s recycled at the end of its life.

The environmental impact of an EV is all upfront, in the sourcing section. A lot of the materials in batteries require mining, which doesn’t come without its difficulties, but manufacturers are already making progress in solving some of these challenges.

Similarly, during production, an electric car doesn’t save any emissions compared to a regular petrol or diesel. In fact, they’re often all built together on the same production lines in the same factories.

It’s when we get to the use phase that an electric car really starts to show its eco-credentials. Not just from the emissions it produces each mile but all the energy that goes into fuelling the vehicle. The impact of extracting, shipping and refining oil is huge and when it does make it into a vehicle, combustion engines are terribly inefficient compared to electric cars.

And finally, onto recycling. Batteries, which are made from all those valuable materials we mentioned, can be upcycled into ‘second life’ applications rather than sent to the scrapheap and when the battery health falls really low, the raw materials can be recovered and used to make new batteries. This will in time reduce the sourcing impact of EVs, as much of the materials we need will already be out of the ground.

Acceleration and handling: EVs vs traditional cars

Put aside all the green credentials and cost benefits of an electric car compared to traditional cars and there’s still one factor to consider: electric cars are a lot of fun to drive.

The electric motor offers instant acceleration with humble hatchbacks and family SUV capable of 0-60mph in under four seconds, more than enough to beat expensive performance cars from the likes of Ferrari and Aston Martin away from the lights.

You’ll also find electric cars to be more stable in cornering because they have a lower centre of gravity. This is because the electric vehicle battery is positioned under the floor between the wheels. The low centre of gravity also delivers a smoother ride meaning driving an electric car is more fun and more comfortable than a petrol, diesel or hybrid car.