Ethical Electric Cars

Choosing an ethical electric car

With an increase in UK sales of electric cars in the last few years, there is a lot of interest in finding out just how eco-friendly electric cars really are. People are concerned about the sourcing of the minerals used in the batteries, and pollution from tyres. 

This guide to electric cars covers these sustainability issues along with the practicalities of buying and running an electric vehicle. 

Plus, what are people doing about Tesla cars? We have witnessed the transition of Elon Musk and his Tesla car brand from environmental darling to far-right political activist. This has created a wave of boycotts globally. A key feature of this guide is to outline the problems with Musk and his brand, and help people choose reasonable alternative brands to Tesla. 

Rising demand for electric cars

Cars are responsible for 54% of emissions from surface transport in the UK, and their environmental and societal impacts are very present in most of our daily lives. However, with an explosion of lower carbon choices, around one in four cars sold in the UK in 2025 was electric. This represents a 77% increase since our last guide to cars was published in 2022.

In 2025, the UK government's Climate Change Committee stated that: "The uptake of electric cars is having a measurable and rapidly growing effect on [UK] emissions. “Emissions from the surface transport sector fell by 1.9 MtCO₂e in 2024, despite vehicle-kilometres rising.” In addition, they noted that public chargepoint installations increased by nearly 40% last year and that the average price premium of a new electric vehicles has fallen too.

This is rare good news in difficult times. It is more or less what rational transition should look like.

However, as Ethical Consumer noted in our 2025 Climate Gap report, reducing car demand is crucial alongside switching to electric vehicles, because they have problems of their own due to the materials and energy needed to create them. This will require government interventions to make other transport options more attractive and accessible – including public transport, car share options, walking, and cycling.

Which cars are in this guide?

All the brands in this guide have fully electric options, but most of the companies also manufacture petrol, diesel, or hybrid options too. The only exceptions are Polestar and Tesla which only manufacture electric vehicles.

This guide focuses solely on the electric brands of the car companies included. 

We've included all the well-known car brands such as Audi, BMW, Citroen, Fiat, Ford, Hyundai, Jaguar, Kia, Mini, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Peugeot, Range Rover, Renault, Skoda, Tesla, Toyota, Vauxhall, Volkswagen and Volvo.

Plus, we've also included several fast-growing Chinese brands like BYD.

Chinese manufacturers of EVs

The global landscape for EVs has also changed considerably since our last guide on cars; notably the emergence of Chinese carmakers alongside companies with Chinese ownership.

Chinese car brands, like BYD, Jaecoo, MG, and Omoda are rapidly increasing their share of new car sales in the UK. In 2025 they sold about 200,000 vehicles — roughly one in every ten new cars — which is about double their share from the previous year.

Undoubtedly, their affordability, or downright cheapness plays a key role in their expansion. But who pays a price for that? Scores for both workers’ rights and for conflict minerals amongst Chinese brands are generally very low.

Conflict minerals

An average electric car battery needs over 10kg of cobalt in it. 70% of the world’s cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Agnès Callamard of Amnesty International said: “The Democratic Republic of the Congo can play a pivotal role in the world’s transition from fossil fuels, but the rights of communities must not be trampled in the rush to mine minerals critical to decarbonizing the global economy.”

Choosing a company that scores better in our conflict minerals rating on the table can play a part in sending the right signals. Only one company, BMW, scored 90 points and Volkswagen scored 70. However, a few of our better-scoring brands overall manged to get some points here.

Amnesty International’s campaign targets the forced evictions in the DRC. With the Congolese government having stakes in some of the mining companies, they urge you to write to President Tshisekedi and demand him to stop forced evictions in the DRC.

Find out more on the Amnesty USA website.

What is the carbon impact of electric cars?

The carbon impact of manufacturing a car depends both on the car and, as usual, how you estimate it. But it is widely agreed that manufacturing an electric vehicle (EV) has a higher carbon impact than making a petrol car.

A lot of the extra is the electricity used in making the battery. The mining of lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which are crucial for EV batteries, and heating them to very high temperatures, require a lot of energy. Building a new EV can produce around 80% more emissions than building a comparable petrol-powered car.

What energy sources are used in battery production, therefore, can make a big difference. Greenpeace reported in 2025 that manufacturing emissions in Poland and China are “two to four times higher than those of comparable European facilities”. Greenpeace’s recommendation is that battery manufacturers adopt 100% renewable electricity as quickly as possible. Although coal still has significant use in energy supply in China, clean energy generated a record-high 44% of the country’s electricity in 2024.

And the lower the embedded carbon, the quicker you make it back in use. Currently, a person driving an average distance in an average-size electric car on UK grid electricity will repay the extra manufacturing debt in about two years.

As the average life of a car in the UK is 13 years, EVs are definitely worth it in climate terms if you are buying a new car anyway. Savings will also increase as the grid decarbonises further.

Microplastics and car tyres

Although electric cars cut tailpipe emissions, car tyres of both electric and ordinary cars are responsible for one quarter of microplastics in the environment, according to academics from the University of Portsmouth. EVs are generally heavier than combustion engine vehicles – and potentially represent a greater weight of traffic on the road. This heavier load accentuates the wear of tyres on roads producing a greater quantity of particulates. Small particulates can enter the bloodstream and disrupt internal organs.

Car tyres are high-tech composites, containing hundreds of different chemicals, and this can exacerbate their effects on the environment. For example, zinc oxide, which improves durability, accounts for approximately 1% of the tyre’s weight, yet it is toxic to marine invertebrates and can disrupt marine ecosystems. Another chemical, 6PPD has been attributed to the die-offs of trout and salmon in the US.

A study by Lancaster University claimed that the average tyre will lose around 4 kg of microplastics over its lifetime. Some regulation on the composition and performance of car tyres might be needed.

How to reduce the effect of tyre wear:

• Reduce your road miles – use other, less impactful forms of travel
• Drive a smaller vehicle and lighten the load your vehicle carries
• Plan your journey – choose the shortest route, or avoid rush hour congestion that involves stopping and starting
• Drive smoothly with gentle acceleration and deceleration
• Maintain your vehicle, and check your tyres are at the correct pressure
• Drive slower – it saves fuel

Practical issues around choosing an electric car

We cover a range of practical issues if you are thinking of buying an electric car, from mileage range to cost to secondhand options and hybrids.

Should I buy an electric car now or wait?

In Ethical Consumer's annual Climate Gap report, our main two actions for consumers say: 

• Reduce distance travelled and switch to lower-carbon travel where possible.
• If you need a car, replace it with a fully electric vehicle as soon as possible.

Whether it is worth replacing your old car with an EV early requires taking several variables into consideration.

The main issue will be what you are replacing, and with what – a larger EV will have a higher manufacturing impact for example. Equally, replacing an old gas-guzzling 4x4 or a diesel car in a city soon, is likely to make sense too.

It also depends on how much you drive.

If the answer is "very little" then it might not be worth switching.

In addition, for some people, the electric option will still not be practical or financially possible right now.

How green and sustainable are hybrid cars?

Hybrid cars seem to be very far from the goldilocks solution they originally promised.

A recent study by a European coalition of NGOs called Transport and Environment found, after analysing 800,000 European cars, that plug-in hybrids’ real-world emissions are nearly five times greater than the lab tests indicated. The gap is largely due to unrealistic assumptions about the proportion of driving done in electric mode, which means emissions are significantly underestimated. While the electric driving share is assumed to be 84%, real-world data indicates it is only around 27%.

This doesn’t only make plug-in hybrids disappointing environmentally, they could also cost an estimated extra £400 for their owners.

Hybrids therefore don’t appear to deliver on either their promised financial or environmental benefits.

Should I buy a secondhand electric car?

As the EV-market continues to expand, your options for a used electric car are growing too. There are several benefits to buying secondhand:

Just like their petrol counterparts, used electric cars are significantly cheaper. From an ethical point of view, by buying secondhand, there are fewer issues with the greenhouse gas emissions (and mining impacts) which happen at the manufacturing phase.

The largest concern for buying secondhand EVs is usually the battery health as, if the battery needs replacing outside of warranty, costs can be very high. But studies from Sweden and the UK suggest that used electric batteries are nothing to be scared of. Both investigations found that most cars in their samples retained at least 90% of their originally claimed battery capacity even after 100,000 miles.

However, for peace of mind, you should always check service history, check the warranty and, if possible, request a battery health certificate.

Claimed ranges for electric cars

Electric Vehicle Database reports that the average range across EV models is 236 miles – the top performer being the Mercedes-Benz EQS 450+ at 425 miles, although it retails at more than £100,000. 

Electric Car Scheme offers some advice on how to extend an EV’s range, including: preconditioning the car while it’s plugged using grid power instead of battery power; smooth driving, which can extend the range between 15% to 25%; and maintaining tyre pressure.

Availability of charging continues to improve as the UK rolls towards an electric future. According to charging point locator Zapmap, EV drivers UK saw 19% more charging installations in 2025 that in 2024. Among these, ultra-rapid devices, which deliver 150kW and above, were responsible for the highest growth. In second place were charging hubs designed for drivers looking to quickly recharge their vehicles on longer journeys. 

A Zapmap survey revealed no change between 2024 and 2025 in motivation for owning an EV – 72% of EV drivers credit environmental benefits as their reason for owning an electric vehicle, while just 3% said they would switch back to an internal combustion engine.

Grants for electric cars 

If you’re wondering about which EV to buy, the UK Government's electric car grant may influence your decision. 

The Electric Car Grant scheme re-started in July 2025 as part of a move to encourage zero emission vehicles after it was scrapped in 2022 by the former Conservative government. 

Motorists can receive a discount when they buy a new electric car priced below £37,000. 

The grants come in two bands, and the Government has published a list of eligible models within each band: 

• Band 1 of £3,750 contains just eight models of cars made by Citroën, Ford, Nissan, BMW (Mini) and Renault
• Band 2 is worth just £1,500 but it applies to 32 models across a greater number of makes. 

Car buyers don’t have to fill in the paperwork – the dealer does it for you.

New tax charges for EVs 

With more drivers switching to electric vehicles, the Government is looking to make up a shortfall of losses in fuel duty on petrol and diesel cars. The Treasury announced in 2025 an electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) of 3p a mile for electric plug-in cars, and 1 ½p per mile for hybrid. These charges are planned for April 2028, and the UK Government has launched a consultation on the issue, saying: “If left unchanged, this would mean that by 2030, around 1 in 5 car drivers will pay no fuel duty equivalent […] This outcome is not fair to those who have not switched to an EV.” 

You could rightly highlight a fuel duty freeze introduced by the Conservatives in 2011, with an additional 5p cut introduced in 2022, and ask what that did for the economy? It diverted £160bn that could have been spent on schools, hospitals, social security, housing the homeless, etc, into the pockets of motorists, and rewarded petrol and diesel consumption with their associated environmental and societal impacts. The Chancellor has, however, announced a phased removal of the 5p cut from September 2026 and fuel duty increases from April 2027.

Under the proposal, the road charge for EVs will be half that for drivers of petrol and diesel vehicles. EV drivers would estimate their mileage at the beginning of the year, which would possibly be checked during the car’s MoT – a bit like estimating a household fuel bill and settling the difference after a meter reading.

On top of the planned eVED, in April 2025, the Government introduced road tax for EVs of a standard £195, but greater for 'luxury cars'. However, EV drivers should only pay £10 in their first year, and £20 if their vehicle was registered before March 2027. The Government raised the threshold for luxury cars' in November 2025, from £40,000 to £50,000.

Beginning in 2026 , EV drivers in London also now pay £13.50 a day Congestion Charge – a 25% discount on diesel and petrol cars. This is likely to fall to 12.5% in March 2030. There is bad news for car club members – while car club EVs remain eligible for 100% Congestion Charge discount, this only applies to cars collected and returned to the same bay within the Clean Air Zone.

Running costs for electric cars

Despite these additional costs, electric cars are on average estimated to work out cheaper to run after a higher initial outlay. Estimates by Octopus Energy reveal that owners are more likely to achieve the cost benefits of EVs from home charging, rather than from more expensive public charge points. 

Additionally, public charge points incur 20% VAT, compared to 5% VAT on domestic electricity, which begs questions about fuel inequality. This could mean that EVs are cheaper to run for people with the space and infrastructure to charge at home, rather than people who live in flats, rented accommodation or homes without driveways. With this in mind, trade association Charge UK last year published a white paper calling on the Government to reduce VAT on public charging points and to reduce operators’ prohibitively high energy costs.

How much do electric cars cost?

To give you a sense of how the brands in this guide compare on price and range, we’ve looked at the cost of the cheapest five seater electric vehicle we found on each company’s own website between December 2025 and January 2026. We’ve added the advertised maximum range we found alongside the price.

It’s important to remember that these are the starting prices for each brand. For example, while we found the cheapest Mercedes for just over £40,000, an SUV from the company starts at £129,000.

With the range, the WLTP range (Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure) is the official, standardised measurement for an EV’s maximum driving distance on a single charge. They don’t necessarily reflect the real life experience of drivers.

Nevertheless, a few conclusions are easily drawn from the table. Most of the Chinese brands (Byd, Jaecoo, MG and Omoda) are in the cheapest half of the table. Geely and Volvo, which are also Chinese owned but not exclusively manufactured in China, are in mid-range while our recommended brand, Polestar, while also majority owned and manufactured in China, is on the more expensive end of the list with a £44,000 starting price.

Cars associated with wealth are at the higher end of the scale. Audi, BMW and Mercedes all start over £40,000.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, price does matter when it comes to the range. 

There is a very clear correlation between the price and the range. It appears that, at least in this respect, you get what you pay for. But this is untrue in the case of the luxury brands. For example, a Maserati, although costs about £50K more than a BMW, takes you only a mile further. Not to mention a Rolls Royce, which, considering its extortionate prices, has a very average range. So when it comes to value for money, unless looks are important for you, luxury cars are probably not worth it.

What our readers say about electric cars

Ethical Consumer readers are ahead of the curve when it comes to EV ownership, but many question whether electric vehicles are distracting us from greener forms of travel. 

In a recent Ethical Consumer reader survey, 47% of respondents stated that they owned an electric car, while 53% either owned a petrol/diesel car or used alternative means of transport. Overall, the UK market share for battery electric vehicles in 2025 was 23%, which highlighted how Ethical Consumer readers were more ready to adopt greener transport than the rest of the country. (Although it was an optional, self-selecting survey.)

Respondents’ reasons for buying an EV focused mainly on reducing emissions and reducing carbon footprint. One reader said: 

“I wanted to experience the joy of being in a car without creating tailpipe emissions.”

Some readers said workplace salary-sacrifice leasing schemes made the switch to EV more affordable, while other respondents said they were persuaded by low running costs. 

Respondents reported taking advantage of overnight tariffs, especially those whose homes had installed solar panels with batteries. In this way, one reader reported running costs of £3 for 300 miles. Another reader said: “We have a driveway with space to charge it. We have solar panels and a home battery and get very cheap electricity by selling back to the grid – an electric car is a no-brainer.”

With many respondents reporting that they liked the cost and convenience of home-charging EVs, it sounded like they didn’t miss stopping at the petrol station. However, some reported experiencing “range anxiety” on longer trips. 

hen we asked what they disliked about their electric cars, the owner of a Tesla said: “It is made by Musk, whose political views we dislike.” Another, simply stated, “Elon.”

For 45% of respondents, price was the greatest hurdle to owning an electric car; 24% cited range; and 31% charging issues. 

Many respondents stated that they were happy to hold onto their current car, and to buy an electric vehicle when the time came to replace it. One reader said,

“It feels wasteful to buy a new car before my current car stops working.”

When asked why they did not own an electric car, many respondents replied that they did not want to own a car at all. One respondent said: “As a cyclist and pedestrian I value the absence of emissions from EVs. However, the large size and weight of many EVs causes them to take up too much road space, which impacts my sense of safety on the road, and is a blight on the urban landscape.”

Another respondent was equally unimpressed with EVs, stating: “I think it's a form of green-washing and not as ethical as we are told [...] I think the Government should focus on improving public transport, bicycle lanes, and carpooling programs instead of pushing EVs. The other reason I don't want a car is to keep active and mobile by walking and using public transport.”

Israel-Palestine rating

Since the end of 2025 we have been rating companies in guides for involvement with the Israeli state and genocide.

All car companies have a distributor with a brand-dedicated showroom in Israel and therefore the highest any company scored for our Israel-Palestine rating is 50.

Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Volkswagen scored the lowest with only 10 points due to links to the Israeli military. For example, Ford has commercial pickup trucks that are armoured and retrofitted for the Israeli military, while Mercedes-Benz sold 112 Arocs trucks to the Israeli military.

Between the two ends lie Tesla and the Tata Group with 30 points for close ties to the Israeli government. 

Tesla's CEO and largest individual shareholder, Elon Musk held a conference call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2025 alongside other high-ranking politicians and discussed ongoing cooperation between Israel and Tesla, including efforts to advance legislation on autonomous vehicles.

Tesla boycotts

The emergence of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, as a far-right political activist has created an unprecedented situation globally. It is not unusual for wealthy industrialists to hold far-right views, nor indeed for them to fund their favourite politicians with this wealth. But what is unusual here is that Elon Musk also controls a huge global media platform. From this platform he can intervene instantly in conflicts around the world. This may be to inflame division, or boost hate speech, or simply to share his personal views.

Ordinary people, who despair at the actions of powerful people, often have few options to protest effectively. However, the situation with Elon Musk is also unprecedented in that he is linked to two prominent consumer brands which people can boycott: Tesla and Twitter/X. Just as he is free to say what he wants, we are free to choose not to make purchases which will ultimately fund his far-right political machine.

Around the world, significant boycotts of Tesla began around 2024.

The Tesla Takedown campaign emerged in early 2025 as Musk took on the role of slashing US government spending at the US Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE). Tesla Takedown is a decentralised coalition of environmentalists, anti-Trump advocates, and federal workers who are calling for a boycott of the electric car brand. It urges people to sell their vehicles and shares of Tesla stock, to pressure Elon Musk into withdrawing from politics.

In April 2025, Musk announced he was leaving his role at DOGE after Tesla’s car sales dropped 20% in the first three months of the year. Since then, despite little in the way of obvious global organising, spontaneous boycotts have continued to impact the sales of the Tesla brand in a very significant way. 

The table below shows Tesla sales across Europe in 2024 and 2025. In contrast, electric car sales surged in Europe in 2025 by an average of 30% for other brands.

Elsewhere we have written about the boycott of twitter/X which, in the UK, saw revenues fall by nearly 60% in 2025.

10 reasons to boycott Tesla

It is sometimes difficult to keep track of the extent of Musk's political interventions. Here is a handy list to help.

1. Germany – Musk has prominently endorsed far-right German political party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). AfD policies include opposing immigration into Germany and climate-change denial.
2. UK – Musk has expressed support for far-right activist “Tommy Robinson”. Robinson’s team has claimed that Musk has also paid his legal fees.
3. Spain – In early 2025, Elon Musk publicly endorsed Spain's far-right party, Vox. Vox is another anti-immigration party which bundles in climate denial for its supporters.
4. USA – Musk was the largest political donor in the 2024 US election cycle with donations totalling $291m. His donations were entirely for the Republican party and Trump.
5. Turkey – During the 2023 Turkish presidential election, Twitter limited access to content in Turkey, including critics of incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, political opponents, and journalists.
6. India – Twitter has also censored tweets and blocked accounts that are critical of India's prime minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party.
7. Race and white nationalism – Musk has claimed that the media is being racist against Whites and Asians and has amplified false claims of white genocide in South Africa.
8. Wealth – Musk is the richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of nearly $800bn according to Forbes. There are many problems with gross wealth inequality, but one from Oxfam America's list is that billionaires are contributing a million times more carbon to the atmosphere than the average person.
9. Anti-unionism – Musk has been critical of trade unions. In December 2023, Musk commented that he disagreed with "the idea of unions".
10. Free speech double standards – Despite Twitter/X's unwillingness to censor hate speech, it seems willing to censor anti-government speech in Turkey and India and against Musk himself.

Climate rating for electric car companies

In this category, companies fell at the first hurdle if they had not set a date to have phased out internal combustion engines, even if they have identified car tailpipe emissions as the main impact. 

Fully electric companies scored additional points.

Polestar was the only carmaker to score a perfect 100 under Climate. The company was wholly focused on electric cars, and measured its Scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions.

The only two companies with a dated commitment to phase out ICE cars were Hyundai and Kia. 

Tesla might once have been an attractive buy from a climate-change perspective. However, the funding of climate-change-denying political parties by its CEO Elon Musk is one reason for the global boycotts of this company. In addition, Tesla did not give evidence of having reduced its main climate impacts in line with international agreements to reach net zero by 2050. And, although it disclosed most Scope 3 emissions, these had increased in most categories.

As a manufacturer of batteries, BYD was focused on electric and hybrid cars, but it conducted no climate-change reporting that we could find.

The list of companies with zero scores in our guide is a sad reflection on the automotive industry in 2026. These companies were typically established automotive firms and their subsidiaries, which we might have hoped to have been old, wise, and wealthy enough to have behaved better. Typically, manufacturers continued to produce combustion engine vehicles or omitted to fully report Scope 3 emissions.

Workers’ rights

Automotive supply chains are complex, which makes it all the more important for car companies to report transparently on supply chain management and the measures taken to protect workers. Although an EV drivetrain consists of only about 20–25 moving components, their ICE counterparts, which the majority of the companies also manufacture, can have thousands of them.

Among car makers that avoided a zero score were Renault/Dacia – the parent company had signed a global agreement with Renault Group Works' Council and IndustriALL Global Union. 

Our scoring system also recognised Honda for the extent of its in-house manufacturing of components, although the company lost points for a third-party criticism for union-busting activities in the US in 2024.

Most companies scored zero for their treatment of workers.

Although BYD scored 10/100, the company was found in 2024 to have hired a construction company to build a factory in Brazil in which workers lived in conditions comparable to "slavery".

Do electric car makers offer vegan car seats and interiors?

A PETA survey of vegan car interiors published in 2024 provides a good starting point, and suggests that the industry has improved its performance since its last publication.

Tesla led the way in offering vegan car interiors – PETA stated they have been vegan since 2019. However, as discussed above, they are problematic for other reasons and we do not recommend this brand.

Renault signed a deal with PETA to eliminate animal leather interiors across its entire range by the end of 2025, saying: “For an auto maker like Renault, committed to designing the cars of tomorrow, the decision to break from leather was inevitable.”

Volvo has also started a transition away from leather in its electric vehicles by 2030, citing the “negative environmental impacts of cattle farming, including deforestation”.

Mention was also made of Mercedes-Benz, which announced in 2025 that it had developed car interiors that achieved a Vegan Society trademark; these include all surfaces and components – from seats to window sills.

Many other EV makers are phasing out leather, or seeking alternatives. Volkswagen, for example, is exploring materials based on industrial hemp. Mini is replacing leather with a non-animal material called Vescin. Its owner BMW has introduced vegan materials SensaTec, SensaFin and Veganza.

Stellantis has vegan options across its makes, and stated its Opel EVs are exclusively vegan. 

Other companies that offered vegan alternatives included Skoda, Toyota, MG and Kia.

Whereas Polestar might have performed well as an ethical electric car, it had a weak policy towards all vegan car interiors, stating that it offered interiors of both vegan leather and “welfare-traced Nappa leather” (leather from young animals).

Car sharing clubs 

One step to reducing car ownership can be through the membership of a car club. According to charity Collaborative Mobility UK (CoMoUK), each car club vehicle in the UK replaces an average of 27 private cars. The charity also states club members are open-minded to other modes of transport – 36% use a bicycle at least once a week (compared to a national average of 12%), and 53% use a bus every week (national average 21%).

Car clubs come in three main types:

• Commercial (such as Enterprise Car Club, Co Wheels) often charge an hourly rate and a joining fee.
• Community (such as Upper Calder Valley scheme POD, LEAP in Renfrewshire, Mobilityways/Liftshare) can charge a subscription, day rate and mileage, or can offer carpooling or lift shares.
• Peer-to-peer platforms (Hiyacar, Getaround) can enable car owners to rent their cars.

CoMoUK has a map of existing schemes around the UK and Republic of Ireland, and even advice on starting and running your own scheme. In a survey of car club members, the charity reported that most said it was faster than alternative transport options and almost 70% found a car less than 20 minutes from their starting point. 

Although car club membership is comparatively small in the UK, it is rising, driven mostly by corporate membership – up 11% in 2024 compared to a 1% rise in 2023.

Zipcar exits the UK

The proposal in December 2025 of car club giant Zipcar to exit UK operations has led transport campaigners to call for a co-ordinated approach toward shared-use EVs in London. The London Assembly had already criticised Transport for London (TfL) for its fragmented system, in which councils independently develop their own strategies towards car shares. TfL stated this led to “inconsistent provision across the capital and causing some operators to pull out of London”. At the end of 2025, Zipcar, which is owned by US-based car rental agency Avis Budget Group, entered into a formal consultation with employees about its UK operation. With more than half a million members, this would leave a large gap in car club provision in the capital.

In response, CoMoUK published an open letter to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Chair of London Councils’ Transport and Environment Committee Brenda Dacres calling for co-ordinated action across London councils, together with reduced parking costs for car club vehicles and improvements in EV charging infrastructure. Signatories included representatives from CoMoUK, Clean Cities Campaign, Federation of Small Businesses, Green Alliance, Mums for Lungs, London Cycling Campaign, and car clubs Hiyacar and Co Wheels. The letter stated: “The departure of Zipcar will dent London’s reputation as a world-leading city for innovative, low-carbon mobility.”

If the exit of Zipcar has raised questions about the approach to shared car ownership in London, let’s hope it will open opportunities for an integrated travel network and community car clubs on the capital’s congested streets.

Lobbying to keep the combustion engine

Unfortunately, internal combustion engine (ICE) cars – petrol, diesel, and hybrid – still generate the most profit. As one car company's CEO put it last year: “As a carmaker, you will lose a profit growth engine if you do not make petrol cars”.

Not wanting to lose the cash cow, European companies have been pushing against planned legislation banning the manufacture and sales of ICE cars. And they are lobbying successfully. 

Just before Christmas 2025, it was widely reported that the EU “watered down” its plans to end ICE car manufacture by 2035. The new plan would allow further sale of cars with combustion engines with the stipulation that 90% of sold vehicles have to be zero-emission (instead of the original 100%).

Additional research by Rob Harrison and Richard Stirling.