It’s been a big month for electric vehicle sales in the UK, but what are some of the numbers behind the numbers? Some carmakers are doing well with their sales of EVs, but who's in trouble?

Research organisation New Automotive sends out its own analysis of the UK’s new car sales numbers each month, with a more detailed breakdown of EV sales so we can get a clearer idea of what’s happening in the market. 

Tesla is back on top

There’s been some bickering between Tesla and BYD to be the UK’s top seller of EVs, but a boat must have just arrived at the port of Southampton with a load of Teslas rammed in the back of it, because Tesla has a 7.3% share of the UK EV market according to New Automotive. 

Tesla’s numbers are still slightly down on 2025, almost 2%, but its sales are still enough to see off the competition. BYD has taken a 6.9% market share so far in 2026, but there’s a surprise in third place because Kia is not far off with a 6.7% share of the UK’s electric cake thanks to a very strong May.

BYD is the most electric of the mixed sellers

If you ignore the carmakers that just sell electric (sorry Tesla) and look at the proportion of overall sales taken by EVs a slightly different picture emerges. 

​BYD is at the top of this table, with 49% of its sales coming from fully electric cars. Perhaps that’s a bit of a cheat, though, because BYD has never sold purely combustion engined cars in the UK – maybe it'll be tempted to if it starts its own F1 team. 

Impressively, 37% of Renaults sold in 2026 have been electric, and a third of Skodas. Then comes Ford with a 28% mix. 

Some EVs can’t come soon enough

​Land Rover has zero EV sales so far in 2026 – it needs that massively delayed Range Rover Electric to hurry up and get on sale. And sell at least 4,000 of them according to the latest numbers, if it’s to hit its 13% BEV requirements in the government’s zero emission vehicle mandate. 

Likewise Mazda is going to be dependent on its new 6e saloon doing solid numbers, and Honda needs the new Super N to be a success because it doesn’t have an EV on sale at the moment. Nissan is also in a bit of a pickle, with just under 5% of its sales so far in 2026 being electric. Should the Micra be pulling its weight more? The new Nissan Juke doesn't arrive until the beginning of 2027...