More than 70% of non-EV drivers say that rising petrol prices have made them more likely to consider an electric car, according to new research.

Among a thousand visitors to the Electrifying.com website – all actively researching electric vehicles – 73% of those who don’t already drive an EV are now considering an electric car as a result of global oil price volatility.

Electrifying.com said the findings highlight how geopolitical instability and fluctuating fuel costs are accelerating interest in electric driving, with many drivers reassessing the long-term affordability and resilience of petrol and diesel cars.

The timing coincides with a significant expansion in both choice and affordability of EVs. Registrations of new EVs in March 2026 soared by nearly a quarter compared with March 2025, while used electric car sales rose by 46% in 2025, with nearly 275,000 second-hand EVs changing hands during the year. And new figures from Octopus EV show that EV leasing demand is also surging, with orders at the EV leasing firm up 89% in March.

Separate new research (see below) also shows that financial benefits are set to overtake eco considerations as the top impetus for going electric.

Ginny Buckley, CEO of Electrifying.com, said: “With EV drivers paying just pennies per mile to charge at home, it’s no wonder volatile fuel prices are pushing people to rethink what they drive. We’ve seen a near 50% surge in traffic to Electrifying.com week on week since the start of the US–Iran war, and that’s being reflected across the industry.”

But Electrifying.com warned that the ‘driveway divide’ means that the benefits of electric driving are not being shared equally. Government figures show that around a third of UK drivers do not have off-street parking, meaning millions rely on the public charging network – where costs remain significantly higher.

Buckley added: “Millions of drivers will depend on public charging to run an EV. Yet they’re the ones paying the highest price. Charging at home can cost as little as 1.8p per mile on an off-peak tariff, but if you rely on the public network that cost can rise to around 18p per mile; ten times as much, and often more than running an efficient petrol car.

“Much of that added cost is down to the fact that public charging is taxed at four times the rate of charging at home, which simply isn’t fair. The Government can’t say it wants drivers to go electric while taxing those without a driveway the most. That’s not progress – it’s a penalty.

“This current crisis shows that the Government should think carefully about introducing new taxes, such as pay-per-mile, on electric driving. Millions of drivers have already made the switch, encouraged in part by the promise of lower running costs – now isn’t the moment to start adding extra costs on to those who’ve done the right thing.

“Fuel duty has been frozen for 15 years, so penalising EV drivers sends entirely the wrong signal.”

EV savings overtaking sustainability as top priority for UK homeowners

New analysis shows that financial benefits are set to overtake environmental considerations as the top reasons why UK homeowners want an electric car.

Electrify Research has today published new findings from its Homeowner Electrification Tracker Study (HETS) showing a fundamental and sustained shift in how UK homeowners think about the benefits of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). For the first time since tracking began, financial and economic benefits are on course to eclipse environmental ones as the dominant benefit homeowners associate with BEV ownership. The crossover is projected to occur by early 2027.

HETS has tracked the attitudes of 4,000 UK homeowners every three months since August 2023, using a deliberately open-ended question: “What do you think are the most important benefits of owning an electric vehicle?” Respondents are not prompted with answer options; they answer in their own words. Responses are then coded using AI assistance across 28 consistent categories, producing a ‘top-of-mind’ picture of consumer beliefs and associations. The study now covers 44,000 interviews across 11 waves of research, starting August 2023.

Since polling began, two responses have consistently led all others: that BEVs are environmentally beneficial and that EVs save money. But the balance between these associations has shifted dramatically.

Environmental benefit associations peaked at around 60% before falling by approximately 15 percentage points to around 46% by November 2025.

Financial and economic benefit associations rose from 26% to 43% over the same period, a gain of 17 percentage points.

Extrapolating these sustained trends forward, Electrify Research projects the two lines will cross by early 2027, marking the point at which financial and economic benefits become the dominant association that UK homeowners hold about BEV ownership.

The implications are significant. In the UK, BEVs remain heavily concentrated in wealthier areas where they are between three times more common than in more deprived areas. As financial associations strengthen across the homeowner population, the ‘addressable market’ is set to broaden materially. Tariff and price positioning will increasingly outperform green messaging as a commercial lever, and cultural scepticism is likely to diminish as the dominant mental model of EV ownership becomes primarily economic.

The shift also carries pronounced network effects across the wider energy sector. Previous Electrify Research findings show that owning an EV increases homeowner consideration for heat pumps by 69% and for solar by 40%. As EV ownership broadens into more price-sensitive segments, those downstream effects on home energy technology are expected to accelerate accordingly.

Ben Marks, MD of Electrify Research, said: “This is not a blip. It’s not really that the environmental case for BEVs has weakened, it’s just become displaced – less ‘top of mind’ – as consumers start to appreciate the financial benefits of ownership. For everyone in the auto industry this data should prompt a serious rethink. It’s a structural change. At the very least it should be reflected in messaging, but the true implications are strategic rather than tactical.”

Ben Nelmes, CEO of research firm New AutoMotive, said: “More motorists are realising just how much they could save by going electric. What is good for the planet is good for your pocket, and the amount you can save by going electric has increased over 20% in the last month as global fuel prices rise. And with more models at better prices than ever before, there has never been a better time to get an electric car.”