New analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has found plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) are likely to be spending almost twice as much money to fuel their cars than manufacturers’ claim.
Based on manufacturers’ claims about fuel efficiency, PHEVs should be costing on average around £530 a year for petrol and electricity.
But research by Transport & Environment found PHEVs consume 490% as much fuel as manufacturers claim, with the ECIU discovering costs then jump to £985 a year – due to petrol being more expensive per mile than electricity.
This disparity between claimed and real-world fuelling costs has a knock-on effect on a PHEV’s total costs of ownership, meaning PHEVs actually cost £81 a year more to own and run than a regular petrol car.
When compared to an equivalent EV, PHEVs’ total costs of ownership are almost £1000 higher each year.
The findings follow the UK Government’s decision in 2025 to change the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate which could encourage manufacturers to see more PHEVs through flexibilities on lower-emission petrol and diesel vehicles.
Colin Walker, Transport Analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said:
“This increasingly looks like a scandal with echoes of ‘dieselgate’. The industry’s successful lobbying of government will encourage the sale of hybrids and keep the nation’s driving bills high.
“Expanding the pool of hybrids on the road will leave the second hand market, where most of us buy our cars, awash with vehicles that are much more expensive to run and own than EVs. Some families will be left simply unable to make the switch to cheaper and cleaner electric driving.
“Drivers already pay a ‘petrol premium’ of hundreds, even thousands, of pounds year to run a petrol car rather than an EV, but it’s clear the premium to drive a plug-in hybrid is almost as high.
“Even with the introduction of a 3p a mile tax on EVs, they will remain cheaper to own and drive. But with the prospect of more families and businesses left paying more to drive hybrids than EVs, that’s a real knock to the nation’s productivity. We’re spending more to drive than we need to and so less in other parts of the economy.”
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