Battery-electric cars took 32% of the UK’s new car market in October, while petrol cars fell to just 37.2%, according to new data from the SMMT. That’s the closest the two have been.

At the current pace, electric cars will outsell petrol in the UK within a year. And it could happen as soon as this December.

The UK registered 152,730 new cars in October, up 5.4% year-over-year and the 11th straight month of growth for the overall market.

All of that growth came from plug-ins. BEV registrations jumped 32.7% to 48,858 units, and plug-in hybrids rose 30.1% to 22,898. Meanwhile, petrol fell 11.6% to 56,876 units, diesel dropped 15.9%, and even conventional hybrids were down 5%.

Through the first 10 months of the year, the UK has now registered 503,805 BEVs, up 30.4%, for a 26.6% market share. Petrol’s year-to-date share is down to 41.1%, from 47.2% at the same point last year.

We pulled SMMT’s monthly fuel-type data going back to March 2024 to see where this is heading. Note that SMMT counts mild hybrids as petrol (or diesel) in its headline categories, and that’s generally how we count them at Electrek.

In March 2024, petrol held 55.9% of the market and BEVs 15.2%. In October 2026, it was 37.2% vs 32.0%. Petrol’s share is shrinking by about half a point per month on a linear trend, while BEVs gain about 0.36 points a month. Extend both lines and they cross around August 2027 at roughly 33% each.

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