Nearly a third of new cars registered in October were fully electric. That is a big month for EVs, but the 2026 sales target still looks a long way off.
October was a good month for electric cars. UK registrations reached 48,858, up 32.7% from a year earlier, and battery-electric vehicles took 32.0% of the new-car market. That is their highest monthly share so far in 2026.
The annual figures are less flattering. Ten months into the year, EVs account for 26.6% of new registrations. The headline Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate target for 2026 is 33%. One strong month will not close that gap.
Almost 49,000 electric cars registered in October
The SMMT’s 5 November figures put the overall October market at 152,730 new cars, up 5.4%. It was the eleventh consecutive month of growth.
Battery-electric registrations jumped from 36,830 last October to 48,858 this time. Their share rose from 25.4% to 32.0%. Petrol remained the biggest single fuel category, though, with 56,876 registrations and a 37.2% share. Diesel was down to 5,811.
Plug-in hybrids also had a good month, rising 30.1% to 22,898 registrations. Conventional hybrids fell 5.0% to 18,287. Combined with BEVs, the two hybrid categories accounted for 59.0% of the market.
That 59.0% needs a label: electrified, not fully electric. Hybrids still use petrol engines and cannot simply be added to the battery-electric total for the ZEV mandate.
The Skoda Enyaq was October’s best-selling BEV, with 1,568 registrations. The electric MINI Countryman followed on 1,494, just ahead of the Jaecoo 5 on 1,465. There is more variety in the EV chart than there used to be.
The 33% target isn’t going to be rescued by October
The UK has registered 503,805 battery-electric cars since January, an increase of 30.4% year on year. That includes September’s record 99,201 registrations. Across all fuel types, 1,892,000 new cars have been registered this year.
October’s 32.0% is one month’s result. The 26.6% year-to-date figure includes the slower months that came before it. Even if November and December both reached 33%, the annual share would still come in below the headline target.
The SMMT now forecasts a 27.2% BEV share for the whole of 2026, 5.8 percentage points short of 33%. It expects 32.0% next year against a 38% target, and 37.5% in 2028 against 52%. Those are forecasts, not final results, but the industry clearly expects a tougher run ahead.
A sales shortfall is not the same as breaking the law
This is where the mandate gets more complicated. The Department for Transport’s rules set a 33% headline target for new cars in 2026, but manufacturers have ways to meet their obligations without exactly matching that share.
They can use allowances that have been banked, borrowed or traded, as well as conversions between the vehicle emissions schemes. Some smaller manufacturers qualify for derogations. The government explicitly says the market can comply without hitting the headline percentage through registrations alone.
New AutoMotive estimates that those flexibilities bring the effective 2026 market-wide requirement down to roughly 24.6%. That is its calculation, not a replacement for the 33% legal headline or proof that every manufacturer is compliant. We do not know a carmaker’s final position from national sales figures alone.
The government’s mandate consultation closed on 23 October. Ministers are considering the targets and flexibilities, but no revised headline figures had been announced by 5 November.
Carmakers are paying to keep EV registrations moving
Discounts are doing some heavy lifting. Manufacturers are offering low-rate and 0% finance, deposit contributions and, in some cases, subsidised charging to get buyers into electric cars. The SMMT says the industry has spent billions supporting demand and warns that it cannot keep absorbing the cost.
The government’s Electric Car Grant helps on approved models costing £37,000 or less. Eligible cars receive either £1,500 or £3,750 off. Plenty of EVs do not qualify, so a dealer’s advertised offer still needs checking.
Manufacturers want a return on the money tied up in new platforms, batteries and factories. Buyers want prices they can actually afford. Those two things are related, but they do not always pull in the same direction.
Fleet and private buyers are not getting the same deal
Fleets accounted for 89,985 October registrations, or 58.9% of the whole market. Private buyers registered 58,229 cars, up 4.1%, while the smaller business category reached 4,516.
These figures include petrol, diesel and hybrids too. They do not establish how many of October’s electric cars went to fleets, so it would be wrong to credit fleets with the entire EV increase.
There is an obvious incentive for company-car drivers. Zero-emission cars attract a 4% benefit-in-kind percentage for 2026–27 under HMRC’s rules. A private buyer, with no company-car scheme, faces a different calculation.
Why New AutoMotive and SMMT show different numbers
New AutoMotive’s early October figures put BEV registrations at 49,155, a 31.8% share of 154,407 new cars. The SMMT records 48,858 BEVs out of 152,730 cars, or 32.0%. Neither set of numbers should be quietly mixed into the other.
The New AutoMotive Electric Car Count draws on DVLA vehicle-enquiry and DVSA MOT-history data. It excludes some personalised and non-standard registration marks. The SMMT uses its own registration reporting. Different source data and reporting snapshots can change the totals.
The DfT also publishes provisional monthly vehicle indicators using DVLA information and SMMT data. As of 5 November, the latest monthly entry covers September. We have used the SMMT figures consistently for October and the 2026 year to date.
What buyers should take from it
More models and tougher competition are welcome if you’re shopping for an EV. Compare the cash price, finance APR, deposit, total amount repayable and likely resale value. A cheap-looking monthly payment can hide an expensive agreement.
Then check charging. Home electricity can make an EV cheap to run; regular public charging can make the sums much less attractive. The government’s £100 million public-charging cost plan may help some drivers later, but it is not an automatic discount at the charger today.
There is a longer-term cost to watch as well: the government plans a mileage-based electric vehicle duty of 3p per mile for battery-electric cars from April 2028. It is not part of today’s running costs, but it belongs in the decision for a car you’ll keep several years.
Tech Torque Verdict
A 32% share and nearly 49,000 electric registrations make October a strong result. Manufacturers are offering more choice, and the deals are getting harder to ignore.
But an impressive October does not fix a 26.6% year-to-date share. The SMMT’s 27.2% year-end forecast remains below the 33% headline target. Whether an individual manufacturer complies is a separate question, because the mandate has flexibilities built in.
The bigger test is how many buyers still choose electric when the discounts stop doing so much of the work. Price, charging costs and clear rules will decide that more than one good month.
