Money Box Live: Do Electric Cars Add Up?

Loading player...
Buying a new car last year increasingly meant going electric. Around one in four new car buyers made that choice with almost half a million electric cars registered over the year, according to industry figures. That means there are more than 1.8 million fully electric cars driving around the UK, which is still only just over 5 per cent of cars on the road. But in the next few years, more motorists will start navigating the change because by 2030 the UK government is banning the sale of new petrol and diesel, with hybrids allowed until 2035. So how much do electric cars to buy and run, and how easy is it to travel long distances in them?

Joining Felicity Hannah are Stuart Masson from the website The Car Expert and Melanie Shufflebotham from Zap Map, which is an app and website showing where public charging points are.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah
Producer: Sarah Rogers
Editor: Jess Quayle
Senior Editor: Sara Wadeson

(This episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 21st of January 2026)
18 Feb English United Kingdom Business

Other recent episodes

Credit Card Debt and Civil Service Pensions

Debt charity StepChange says its research suggests around 2.5mn people who have debt on a credit card have paid more in interest, fees and charges over the past 18 months than they have repaid off the debt itself. Its survey of 6,000 adults, done by the polling organisation YouGov, found…
7 Mar 27 min

Money Box Live: Student Loan Debate

Student loans and their impact on graduates’ finances have dominated the news recently. The average student debt in England for 2024 graduates was approximately £53,000, with repayments being made when salaries hit a certain threshold set by the government. But, the finer details on who gets what and how it's…
4 Mar 30 min

Report Fraud and Student Loans

Billions of pounds is lost each year to fraud, be that by criminals simply stealing someone's money or by thieves tricking victims into giving them their details before draining their bank accounts. It's a crime that is massively under-reported, with very low conviction rates too. To tackle this, a new…
28 Feb 26 min

Money Box Life: Working for Longer

The number of people working past retirement age is growing. New analysis of tax data found a 12% rise over the past five years. It was carried out by the specialist employment law firm, Littler, which says official estimates for the last financial year show 2.1 million workers and self-employed…
25 Feb 30 min

Energy Ombudsman Powers and Cheques

The chair of Parliament’s Energy Select Committee has told Money Box it’s “vital” the Energy Ombudsman is given new, stronger powers as quickly as possible. Bill Esterson says that it is too easy for energy suppliers to simply ignore ombudsman decisions leaving consumers powerless. Energy UK, which represents suppliers, says…
21 Feb 26 min