Sales of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) are on the rise, with 225,143 sold in the UK in 2025 – 35% more than in 2024.
Record sales in August 2026 showed that PHEVs were up 39.8% on the same period in 2025, too, so clearly demand is continuing to increase.
Between an influx of long-range PHEVs, low company car tax bills and potentially very low running costs, they’re proving increasingly popular with buyers who want the affordability of electric running for the daily stuff and the convenience of internal combustion for longer journeys.
But there are some tricks to maximising the potential savings with a PHEV, so here’s our guide to keeping costs down on PHEV motoring.
Plug it in – and then keep plugging it in
There’s an unfortunate habit for PHEV owners to run the car without plugging in, but charging regularly at home on an off-peak tariff is a no-brainer if you’re lucky enough to have off-road parking.
Energy tariffs of less than 10p per kWh are common if you shop around and, even factoring in real-world efficiency on the average PHEV, that works out at roughly 5p per mile in electricity, rather than the 15- to 20p per mile that it will cost while relying on the petrol engine.
Public charging pushes electricity costs up and can result in similar costs per mile (or potentially even higher costs at pricey motorway rapid chargers), so the trick is really to maximise charging at home and do as much mileage as possible on cheap domestic electricity.
You don’t need to fork out for a dedicated home car charger to do that. Using a professionally fitted outdoor three-pin socket will provide roughly 40 miles of electric range in the five off-peak hours that most electricity providers offer. So plugging in every night would still allow most drivers to cover the average daily UK commute of roughly 20 miles on cheaper electric power alone, with some range left over.
Use the drive modes
While we’re on the subject of fuel efficiency, nearly all PHEVs have various powertrain modes that give you full control over whether the car is running on petrol or battery power.
