Consumer interest in electric vehicles has surged. Manufacturers, retailers, and raw sales data all provide convincing evidence of EVs on the rise, but are UK car buyers acting out of genuine enthusiasm or being coerced by mounting external pressures?
Renault has reported a 42 percent increase in inquiries for its lineup of EVs since the start of the Iran conflict. Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, Renault's UK boss, Adam Wood, described the outbreak of hostilities as a "catalyst for EV demand." Since the U.S. and Israel began their strikes on Iran at the end of February, inflated fuel prices and concerns around energy security appear to have fueled consumer interest in electric vehicles which, until recently, had fallen far behind expectations.
Renault states that online inquiries from customers regarding its lineup of electric vehicles have risen by 42 percent over pre-conflict levels, with EVs constituting nearly half (49 percent) of the brand's total UK registrations in April.
Much of this surge is driven by the success of the Renault 5. The retro subcompact model was the best-selling electric vehicle last month, both overall and in terms of sales purely to retail customers. It surpassed the Ford Puma Gen-E and Vauxhall Frontera Electric, which took second and third place respectively.
The widespread demand for EVs isn't confined to Renault dealerships; analysis from Auto Express' parent company, Carwow, found that UK inquiries for all new electric vehicles rose by 23 percent in March.
This trend is further supported by electric vehicles accounting for over a quarter (26 percent) of new car registrations in April—a substantial 59 percent jump month-over-month. With more than two million EVs now on UK roads, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) expects that by 2027, as many as one in three (32 percent) of all new cars sold will be fully electric.
View Price on Amazon"[The conflict] is fundamentally accelerating an underlying growing trend in demand for electric vehicles," Wood explained. "We're at the tipping point as EVs transition from an alternative choice to the mainstream."
Yet while the number of consumers opting for an electric vehicle is moving in the right direction, demand still lags behind what is required by the Government's stringent ZEV Mandate rules. So far this year, EVs account for just over one in five (23 percent) of new cars sold, which is significantly behind the 33 percent target. This means many manufacturers will be forced to trade compliance credits with others or borrow from future years to avoid penalties.
Philip Nothard, insight director at Cox Automotive, isn't convinced that recent figures indicate a long-term shift in customer sentiment toward EVs: "April's strong headline growth isn't necessarily indicative of a significant step change in demand," he stated. "While the market is recovering from policy-driven disruption, year-to-date performance highlights a persistent mismatch between real-world consumer adoption and the pace assumed by the ZEV Mandate."
Aside from inflated fuel prices, perhaps the biggest recent driver of EV adoption has been the Government's Electric Car Grant. Rolled out in August 2025, over 100,000 consumers have now benefited from up to approximately $4,700 off the price of an EV. However, the persistently high cost of public charging and the introduction of the eVED pay-per-mile tax on EVs in 2028 could prove to be major barriers to more widespread electric vehicle adoption.
For example, HMRC announced it would challenge a recent court ruling affirming that charging stations dispensing less than 1,000 kWh of electricity per month to customers should only be subject to the domestic VAT rate of five percent, as opposed to the 20 percent typically applied at public chargers.
"There's no doubt that the government has a difficult balancing act," Wood conceded. "Ultimately, we're seeing that incentives are having a positive impact on EV demand. I think anything that undermines that confidence or creates doubt in consumers' minds isn't necessarily what we need."
Source: autoexpress.co.uk
