MilometryElectric cars in 2026, by the numbers: what the charging log is for
More than one new car in four is now electric, the public network has passed 120,000 chargers, and a kWh costs anything from a few pence to 79p. Here are the figures, and what they mean for keeping a mileage log.
Algemene informatie, geen advies. Geschreven als algemene informatie op 10 oktober 2026. Details veranderen: controleer de officiële bron of vraag een deskundige voordat je erop vertrouwt. Dit is geen juridisch, belasting- of financieel advies.
Milometry has costed every journey from a fuel price and a miles-per-gallon figure since the day it launched. That was fine for most of its users, and it is getting less fine every month. These are the numbers that made 1.2.0's electric features worth building, and what each one means for a log.
One in four new cars
In September 2026, the biggest month of the year for new cars, 99,201 battery electric cars were registered in the UK: 28.3% of the market, a record, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Plug-in hybrids took another 17.0%, also a record. Across the year to September, battery electric cars were 26.2% of all registrations, 454,945 cars.
That is short of the 33% the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate asks of manufacturers for 2026, and the SMMT says so, but the direction is not in doubt. A fleet that was a few per cent electric five years ago is now a quarter electric at the point of sale, and the fleet buyers who account for most new registrations are the people who keep mileage logs.
For a log, the consequence is plain: a growing share of business miles are driven on electricity, and a figure costed at 145p a litre and 45 mpg is simply wrong for them.
The network: 121,000 chargers and climbing
Zapmap counted 121,171 public chargers at the end of June 2026, with 13,996 of them ultra-rapid at 150 kW or more. Ultra-rapid is the fastest-growing band, which matters for the next number.
What a kWh costs: three prices
Zapmap's price index for September 2026 puts the weighted average pay-as-you-go price at 54p per kWh on standard public chargers and 79p on rapid and ultra-rapid ones. Ofgem's price cap for October to December 2026 puts a home unit at 26.32p. An off-peak EV tariff charges a fraction of that overnight; the rate is on your tariff page.
A car returning 3.5 miles per kWh therefore costs about 7.5p a mile charged at home on the cap rate, 15.4p on a standard public charger and 22.6p on a rapid one. A petrol car at 45 mpg and 145p a litre costs about 14.6p. The electric car is cheaper than petrol, or dearer, depending on where it was plugged in. The full working is in What an electric mile actually costs.
This is the fact the whole feature is built around. Fuel has one price. Electricity has three, and which one your car runs on changes from week to week.
What that means for a log
A fuel log has two moving parts: a price and an economy figure, both learned from fill-ups. An electric log needs the same two, but each is harder.
The price is three prices, so Milometry keeps a tariff book: home, home off-peak with its hours, work and public. A charge is logged with where it happened and prices itself from the kWh. Journeys are costed at your cheapest home rate, which is what the car usually runs on, and a public rapid charge is counted in what you spent without becoming the rate a year of driving is costed at.
The economy figure is harder because most owners never charge to full, and "between two full tanks" was the whole method for petrol. So a charge can record the battery percentage before and after, and with the battery size known, any two consecutive charges with odometer readings measure efficiency from the drop between them. Winter will show up in that figure within a few weeks, as it should: cold batteries and cabin heating can cut 3.5 miles per kWh towards 2.5, and every cost per mile rises with it.
Both of those feed the rest of the app the way fuel always has: the live figure on the Track tab, each trip's cost, the calculator, Insights, the PDF and the CSV.
The claim is the same, the cost is not
HMRC's approved mileage rate does not depend on what the car runs on. An electric car on business earns 55p a mile for the first 10,000 miles, the same as a petrol one. What changes is the gap between that and what the mile cost you, which at home on an off-peak tariff is most of the 55p. That gap is worth knowing precisely, and it is the number a log that measures its own efficiency can give you.
CO₂
An electric car has no tailpipe, but the kWh came from somewhere. The UK Government's 2025 conversion factors put grid electricity at about 0.177 kg of CO₂e per kWh, so the 3.5 miles per kWh car emits about 50 g a mile at the grid average, against roughly 230 g for the 45 mpg petrol car. Milometry counts electricity at that generation rate rather than reporting zero, and says so.
Figures above are estimates to help you keep a record, not tax advice. Market figures are for the UK.
Sources
- Record electric car market powers bumper September, SMMT, October 2026. September 2026 registrations by fuel type and the year-to-date share.
- UK EV charging statistics, H1 2026, Zapmap. The network at the end of June 2026 by power band.
- UK EV charging price index, Zapmap. September 2026 weighted averages for standard and rapid charging.
- Energy price cap unit rates and standing charges, Ofgem. The 1 October to 31 December 2026 figures.
- Greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2025, DESNZ. The electricity generation factor.
- Travel: mileage and fuel rates and allowances, GOV.UK. The approved mileage rate, which is the same for electric cars.
