Hybrid or electric car? How EVs compare with petrol, diesel and hybrids

Choosing between a hybrid or electric car mostly comes down to where you'll charge and how far you drive. If you can charge at home, an electric car usually costs much less to run than a hybrid, petrol or diesel car. 

EVs also pay less road tax in its first year and are better for the environment, with zero tailpipe emissions. A hybrid can still suit some drivers, for example if you tow or regularly drive long distances with nowhere to charge. Here's how all four compare, so you can work out what fits the way you drive.

• An electric car runs on a battery alone. A full hybrid pairs a petrol engine with a small battery that charges as you drive. A plug-in hybrid adds a bigger battery that you charge from the mains.
• Charge at home for as little as 2p per mile, with an exclusive EV charging tariff from Octopus Energy, compared with 16p per mile for a hybrid and 18p per mile for petrol.
• Electric cars pay £10 road tax in their first year, then the same £200 a year as petrol, diesel and hybrid cars. From April 2028, electric cars will also pay 3p per mile, and plug-in hybrids 1.5p per mile.
• Electric cars don't pay London's ULEZ charge and get 25% off the Congestion Charge on Auto Pay. Most hybrids avoid the ULEZ charge too, but none get the Congestion Charge discount.
• New petrol and diesel cars can't be sold from 2030, and new hybrids from 2035. You can keep driving, buying and selling used ones after both dates.

An electric car runs only on a battery you charge from a plug. It has no engine and no fuel tank. Petrol and diesel cars burn fuel in an engine. Hybrids sit in between, with a petrol (or occasionally diesel) engine plus an electric motor and a battery.

The catch? "Hybrid" covers three quite different kinds of car, and they don't save you the same amount.

• Full hybrid. Often sold as "self-charging". A small battery charges from the engine and from braking, and it can drive short distances on electric power at low speeds. The petrol engine still does most of the work, and you never plug it in.
• Plug-in hybrid. A bigger battery that you charge from the mains, so it can cover shorter trips on electric power alone. Once the battery runs out, it drives like a full hybrid.
• Mild hybrid. A small electric system that helps the engine but can't drive the car by itself. In practice, it's a petrol or diesel car with a little help.

Every electric car is automatic, so you can drive any of them on an automatic-only licence.

Running costs are often where the choice between a hybrid or electric car gets settled. If you charge at home, an electric car is usually much cheaper to run than a hybrid or a petrol car. A full charge at home can cost just £4.32 in a typical electric car. Covering the same 220 miles would cost £34.91 in an equivalent hybrid and £38.74 in an equivalent petrol car.

Those figures are based on charging off-peak with Intelligent Octopus Go - EV Saver, Octopus Energy's home charging tariff. The discounted rate is exclusive to Octopus EV drivers. Here's how the three compare:

The electric car figures use the MG4, in its Premium Long Range version, with a 61.7kWh usable battery and a real-world range of 220 miles. The full hybrid is an MG ZS Hybrid+ at 50 MPG and the petrol car is a VW Golf at 45 MPG. Your own costs will depend on your car, your tariff and how you drive. You can see our full workings.

A plug-in hybrid lands somewhere in the middle. On short trips with a charged battery, it can run on electricity. On longer journeys, or if you rarely plug it in, it's burning petrol and costs much the same as a full hybrid.

We haven't included diesel, because we don't publish an approved diesel figure.

Public charging costs more than charging at home. The Zapmap price index put standard public chargers at 54p per kWh and rapid chargers at 77p per kWh in August 2026. A kWh is the unit of electricity you pay for, and those prices are several times the off-peak home rate behind our 2p a mile figure. Public charging also carries 20% VAT, while VAT on home electricity is 0% from 1st October 2026 to 31st March 2027.

So if you'd rely on rapid chargers for most of your miles, an electric car can cost as much to run as a petrol car, or more. But it’s very unlikely for EV drivers to solely use rapid chargers. Slower kerbside and workplace chargers usually work out cheaper. Our guide to charging costs covers the options in more detail.

Electroverse counted about 117,000 public chargepoints in the UK in September 2026.

Prices vary too much from model to model to compare fairly by fuel type. But qualifying new electric cars come with a discount of up to £3,750 through the government's Electric Car Grant, which the seller takes off the price. Hybrids, petrol and diesel cars don't qualify.

Leasing, or salary sacrifice if your employer offers it, spreads the cost of the car into a fixed monthly payment.

Electric cars pay £10 road tax in their first year, less than any hybrid, petrol or diesel car. From the second year, every car pays the same standard rate of £200 a year, whatever it runs on. 

The first-year rate is set by a car's CO2 emissions, so here's how a few examples compare for cars registered on or after 1st April 2017:

The second-year figure is for a single 12-month payment. Check your own car's CO2 figure, because the bands are narrow.

Pricier cars pay an extra £440 a year for five years, starting in the car's second year. That kicks in above a £40,000 list price for petrol, diesel and hybrid cars, and above £50,000 for electric cars.

From 1st April 2028, electric cars will pay 3p per mile and plug-in hybrids 1.5p per mile, on top of standard road tax. Both rates will rise with inflation from the 2029/30 tax year. Petrol, diesel and full hybrid cars don't pay it, because their drivers already pay fuel duty at the pump. Plug-in hybrids pay a lower rate because they use petrol too.

The government says the 3p rate is half the average fuel duty a petrol or diesel driver pays per mile. Our road tax guide explains how it'll work.

Electric cars don't pay London's ULEZ charge, and most hybrids don't either. The bigger difference is the Congestion Charge. Electric cars registered on Auto Pay get 25% off, and hybrids don't get any discount.

The ULEZ charge is £12.50 a day for cars that don't meet its emissions standards. Petrol cars need to meet Euro 4 and diesel cars Euro 6. Hybrids are judged on their engine in the same way, so most newer petrol hybrids are fine.

The Congestion Charge in central London is £18 a day. Electric cars were exempt until 25th December 2025. Since 2nd January 2026, they've paid £13.50 a day if they're registered on Auto Pay, and the discount falls to 12.5% from March 2030. Hybrids pay the full £18.

Outside London, some cities run their own clean air zones. Electric cars don't pay in any of them, and newer hybrids usually meet the standards too. The exception is Oxford's zero emission zone, where even a plug-in hybrid pays £2 a day and only zero emission cars go free.

Usually, yes. An electric car has far fewer moving parts. There's no engine oil to change, and no spark plugs, exhaust, clutch or timing belt to replace. A hybrid still has a petrol engine to service, plus an electric motor and battery, so there's more to look after.

Electric cars and hybrids both use regenerative braking, which slows the car using the motor and puts energy back in the battery. That means the brake pads do less of the work. One thing to keep an eye on: electric cars are often heavier, so the tyres can wear quicker. 

It depends on the model. The MG4 Premium Long Range used in our running costs covers about 220 miles in real-world driving. A hybrid will usually go further on a tank, and you can refill it in a few minutes. But if you charge at home, you can start each day with a full battery with no hassle.

Plug-in hybrids vary widely in how far they go on electricity alone. For company car tax, the government groups them into electric range bands running from under 30 miles to 130 miles or more.

Worried about running out of charge on a long trip? Look at the real-world range on the page for each car, rather than the official figure, and compare it with the longest drive you do regularly. Nobody wants to be stuck on the hard shoulder doing sums.

If emissions matter to you when picking a hybrid or electric car, start with what comes out of the exhaust. An electric car has zero tailpipe emissions, so it doesn't add fumes to the air around you. A full hybrid uses its petrol engine for most of the driving. A plug-in hybrid only stays off petrol while its battery lasts, so how green it is depends on how often it's charged.

Official figures for plug-in hybrids have also gone up. Under new testing from 1st January 2025, plug-in hybrids record higher CO2 than under the old test, so on paper they look less clean than they used to.

No car is emission-free. Making any car creates emissions, and so does generating the electricity an electric car runs on. As more of that electricity comes from renewable sources, the emissions from charging an electric car can fall. A hybrid's petrol engine doesn't get any cleaner.

Yes, in most cases. New petrol and diesel cars can't be sold from 2030. But new full hybrids and plug-in hybrids can be sold until 2035, and from 2035 all new cars must be zero emission.

Neither date affects used cars. You'll still be able to drive, buy and sell used petrol, diesel and hybrid cars after both. The government opened a review of the targets for car makers in August 2026, but it has kept both dates.

If you lease for three or four years, or take a car through salary sacrifice, the cut-off dates matter less, because you hand the car back at the end.

For some drivers, a hybrid is the more practical choice for now. That's most likely if you tow heavy loads, regularly drive long distances with nowhere to charge on the way, or can't charge at home or anywhere nearby.

Most other worries come down to charging. If you're still torn between a hybrid or electric car, ask yourself these five questions:

1. Where would you charge most of the time: at home, at work, or at a public charger?
2. How many miles do you drive in a normal week, rather than on your longest day of the year?
3. Do you tow, or often drive further than a full charge without a break?
4. Do you drive into central London or a clean air zone?
5. How long will you keep the car, and does the 2028 per-mile charge change your sums?

If you can charge at home and your regular drives sit within an electric car's real-world range, the running costs above are hard to argue with.

If your employer offers salary sacrifice, the cost difference between electric and hybrid is wider. Electric cars are taxed less than hybrids as a company benefit (known as Benefit-in-Kind), and plug-in hybrids lose most of their tax advantage from April 2028, when they move to a flat 18% rate. Our guide to salary sacrifice cars compares electric, hybrid and petrol cars on a scheme.

If a pure electric car sounds right for you, you can lease one with us, or get one through salary sacrifice. Both come with one monthly payment and help with charging.

If your employer offers salary sacrifice through Octopus EV, the payment comes out of your pre-tax salary. It covers the car, servicing, maintenance, repairs, tyres, breakdown cover and road tax, including the per-mile charge from April 2028. Insurance is included as standard.

If your employer doesn't offer a scheme, you can lease with us directly. One monthly payment covers the car, servicing, maintenance, repairs, MOTs and road tax. The per-mile charge due from April 2028 isn't included.

Whichever route you take, you'll get:

• Help with charging. Depending on the car and the plan, money off a home charger, or public charging credit through Electroverse if you don't have a driveway.
• Cheaper home charging. Access to Intelligent Octopus Go - EV Saver, Octopus Energy's home charging tariff. The discounted rate is exclusive to Octopus EV drivers.
• Cheaper public charging. A discount on public charging with Electroverse, which is part of the Octopus group.
• New or nearly new. Choose a brand new electric car or one of our approved used cars.

For most drivers who can charge at home, an electric car costs less to run, pays less road tax in its first year and has zero tailpipe emissions. A hybrid can suit you better if you tow, regularly drive long distances with nowhere to charge on the way, or can't charge at home or nearby.

It depends on the type. A full hybrid charges its small battery from the engine and from braking, so you never plug it in. A plug-in hybrid has a bigger battery that you charge from the mains. If you don't charge it, it still drives, but it runs on petrol and costs more.

Not the ones already on the road. New full and plug-in hybrids can be sold until 2035, while new petrol and diesel cars stop in 2030. From 2035, all new cars must be zero-emission. You'll still be able to buy, sell and drive used hybrids after both dates.

Usually, if you charge at home. Charge at home for as little as 2p per mile, with an exclusive EV charging tariff from Octopus Energy, compared with 18p per mile for petrol. Relying on rapid public chargers costs much more, so where you'll charge makes the biggest difference.

Yes. In the first year, a hybrid pays a rate based on its CO2 emissions, for example £115 for a plug-in hybrid emitting 1 to 50g/km. After that, hybrids pay the standard £200 a year, the same as petrol, diesel and electric cars. Plug-in hybrids will also pay 1.5p per mile from April 2028.