Expensive oil is making electric vehicles look positively cheap

{"text":[[{"start":5,"text":"In Europe, electric vehicle sales have long been tied to policies and subsidies: when these are withdrawn, they go into reverse. But these nifty motors have now become a bargain in their own right. With petrol costs rising on the back of the Iran war, uptake is accelerating: in the first four months of 2026, a fifth of all the cars sold in Europe were battery electric, up 4 percentage points compared to the same period in 2025. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":32.6,"text":"In part, that reflects the fact that there are lots more cheap and cheerful EVs on offer than there used to be. Chinese manufacturers have led the way. And European carmakers, which started off selling electric drive trains only on their premium models, have gone down the value route: Renault’s new electric Twingo will apparently retail in the UK for less than £20,000. While a model’s electric version still tends to cost more than its traditional equivalent, the release of inexpensive city cars lowered the average cost of BEVs by 4 per cent in 2025, according to Transport & Environment. "}],[{"start":69.25,"text":"That helps recruit a whole new swath of consumers. And little runarounds, which tend to be used more frequently and for shorter trips, are much better candidates for electrification. After all, the real economic mileage for EVs is that they are cheaper to run than traditional cars, and becoming ever more so. Petrol now retails for £1.58 a litre in the UK, up about 20 per cent since the start of the year. While electricity prices are also rising, those able to charge their car outside peak hours when the grid is swamped by solar and wind power are largely shielded from this effect. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":107.65,"text":"As a result, the total cost of owning an EV — including buying and running it — is now often lower than that of a traditional car. For an idea of the potential savings, just think that the owner of a UK electric car of typical efficiency, on Octopus Energy’s off-peak charging tariff might end up paying some 2p per mile, according to consultancy Aurora Energy. That’s an eighth of the cost of running a traditional car, at current petrol prices. The more one uses one’s car, the better a deal the EV becomes. "}],[{"start":137.95000000000002,"text":"Of course, neither electricity nor petrol prices are immutable. Indeed, chances are that the cost of the former’s off-peak hours will rise as more smart-charging cars and heat pumps are introduced to take advantage of it, and that petrol will fall back when hostilities with Iran cease. Still, that’s unlikely to close the gap. The direction of travel, at least for the city car, is clear. "}],[{"start":169.80000000000004,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1780807787_8202.mp3"}