THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO...Clean machines

The car you drive is due for an update. Say goodbye to petrol and hello to a glorious electrified future

- Elan Evenden

Cars are changing, and have been for some time. You can't have failed to notice the charging stations sprouting like rectangular white monuments all over car parks and motorway service stations, or the proliferation of the green-flashed number plates that represent cars with no polluting emissions.

Takeup of electric cars in the UK has been exploding - not literally - since 2019, when sales really began to accelerate. In October 2025, battery electric vehicles made up 25.4% of new registrations according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, and if you add plugin hybrids to that figure it rises to 33.4%.

We've seen a sprinkling of new car brands on the road too, mostly from China and offering high-tech vehicles at surprisingly low prices, while the more familiar automakers are scrambling to release new ranges and updated electric versions of well-known models. There are even some blasts from the past, as classic '90s hot hatches get an electric makeover. And it's only going to keep going. Growth in the EV market has been driven by fleet sales, but cheap refuelling, government grants, and a lack of VED payments (undone by the new road-pricing scheme in the 2025 budget, which doesn't take effect until April 2028) have made EVs attractive to individuals too.

Combine that with the fact that these are smooth-driving, sharp-accelerating cars packed to the gunwales with the latest in-car tech and features like active cruise control and lane-change assist. Driving a modern EV can feel very much like driving a car from the near future, and there's been a leap forward in how powerful and user-friendly they have become since touchscreens first started to appear in cars ten years ago.

DRIVING TECH FORWARD