The steepest run of fuel price rises UK drivers have faced in years is coinciding with a marked acceleration in the switch to electric vehicles, according to the data.
Figures from the RAC show that the average price of petrol has climbed from 132.14p per litre at the start of March 2026 to 162.15p by the second week of August, while diesel has risen from 142.15p to 181.97p over the same period. That amounts to an extra £16.50 to fill a 55-litre petrol tank and around £21.90 for diesel, on top of multiple, consecutive month-on-month rises that the RAC has described as unprecedented in scale.
The rises have been driven largely by the conflict in the Middle East and its impact on wholesale oil prices, but the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has also found that fuel retailer margins remain at historically high levels and are not fully explained by retailers' operating costs, adding to the sense among many drivers that forecourt pricing is moving against them.
Against that backdrop, Easee's own sales data suggests households are responding not with frustration but with action. The company's H1 2026 results show 112,300 charger units sold globally, up 49.7 percent on the 75,000 units sold in H1 2025, with revenue up 32 percent year-on-year to 559.7 million euros, from 425.1 million euros in the same period last year. In the UK specifically, charger sales volumes are up 37 percent year-on-year.
Taken together, Easee argues the data indicates a change in mindset among UK and European drivers; fuel costs, rather than environmental messaging or government incentives, are now the deciding factor in the switch to electric.
“The data suggests drivers are no longer waiting to be persuaded; they're doing the maths” said Øyvind Stavland Osjord, CEO of Easee. “Every month of rising pump prices makes the running-cost case for electric more obvious, and our H1 numbers show households are acting on that calculation rather than just talking about it.”
With the CMA warning that fuel margins show little sign of easing and further pump price volatility considered likely, Easee expects the pace of adoption to continue building through the second half of the year as more households look to insulate themselves from forecourt costs by charging at home.
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