A plug-in hybrid (PHEV) car sounds like the perfect stepping stone from the traditional petrol and diesel models we've been driving for decades to an electric vehicle, doesn't it?

Designed to give motoring flexibility, PHEVs combine long driving distances and the convenience of fast petrol station fill ups with low emissions and cost savings of an EV - and without the worry of breaking down because of a flat battery.

Certainly, drivers seem to think PHEVs crack the range anxiety code. In the year-to-date, PHEV sales are up 41.8 per cent, with a market share of 13.1 per cent compared to 10.1 per cent in 2025.

It was only last year after all that Labour changed the rules around buying new plug-in hybrids, giving them an extension of life until 2035.

But are these 'best of both worlds' cars actually worth buying? Will they save you money? Are they cheaper than EVs to buy? And will the arrival of pay-per-mile road tax erode their cost-saving benefits?

We investigate these questions to see if the rise in plug-in hybrid sales is fuelled by a positive effect on the purse strings or whether they fall short of their promises.

A 'stopgap' before going fully electric

In April 2025, the Labour government announced that hybrid cars would be given a five-year stay of execution from the 2030 ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars.

Both plug-in hybrids and self-charging hybrids are allowed to be sold new until 2035.

The change was part of a number of watered-down adjustments to the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate - the government's regulation that requires vehicle manufacturers to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emission cars and vans each year to push drivers into EVs by the end of the decade.

Drivers reluctant - or not yet able - to move to fully electric vehicles have effectively secured a 10-year extension, with plug-in hybrid powertrains continuing to offer a more flexible middle ground.

As 40 per cent of drivers surveyed by Tempcover insurance confessed to replacing their wheels every three to five years, this means drivers could get another two new plug-in hybrid models before having to buy a new fully electric model.

Pay-per-mile tax could sting sales of plug-in hybrids

In January, Rachel Reeves announced her plans for an electric car pay-per-mile road tax scheme from 2028.

While the scheme is primarily intended to claw back lost fuel duty revenue from EV drivers, plug-in hybrid owners will also be stung by the divisive new electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) charge. 

Fully electric cars will be charged 3p per mile, but plug-in hybrid cars will be charged 1.5p per mile.

But, because PHEVs have a combustion engine - normally petrol - and a battery and electric motor, owners will be paying this charge on top of fuel duty paid at the pumps – a taxation double whammy.

Some new PHEVs cover up to 93 miles in EV-only range, which will see plug-in hybrid drivers - of which there are over one million in the UK - pay per mile even when they aren't using EV mode.

British drivers are furious about the double tax, saying they've been 'conned' into PHEVs by the government, which has said they are 'greener' and offer cost savings.

In January, after the news broke, readers told Daily Mail and This is Money that the eVED tax is a 'robbery'. 

Many said they were planning to ditch their PHEV models and revert to petrol models ahead of 2028 to avoid being double taxed.

Reader Loraine Davison, 73, a retired former HR business partner, and her husband Steve, also 73, a former department operations manager in a national retailer warehouse, who live in Swindon, purchased their BMW X1 PHEV three years ago.

Their couple's holiday at the start of the year to Northumberland was a circa 800-mile trip, an estimated 750 miles of which were petrol.

They paid fuel duty on petrol, didn't charge the car while they were away, and would only have used a 'miniscule amount' of self-generated electric power from the regenerative brakes.

But they would have paid an additional £12 on no more than 50 electric miles.

'That works out at us paying 24p per mile, which is four times fuel duty [6p a mile]. That's outrageous,' Loraine said.

How far can PHEVs go using electricity alone? 

In the last couple of years, new plug-in hybrid cars, across all body styles, have seen ranges increase.

What's driving this? Better battery technology and more availability of battery packs is a key factor, with China largely behind this.

China is a leader in battery technology - it produces more than 75 per cent of the world's lithium-ion batteries and is home to six out of the 10 largest battery makers on the planet.

This availability and engineering investment means that China can bring newer and more advanced technology to market faster, turning European brands hot under the collar and pushing them to keep up with tech changes.

A crucial example is Chery, China's largest car exporter. Chery says it has 'independently developed five generations of hybrid technology over the last 26 years'.

The Chery Group arrived in the UK in August 2024 with its Omoda sub-brand. Its Jaecoo brand followed in January 2025 with the launch of the Jaecoo 7 and the 7 SHS. Chery's own brand arrived in September 2025 with the Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 SUVs.

All of these Chery-owned brands have models with Chery's 'Super Hybrid System'. The advanced plug-in hybrid system marries a turbocharged petrol engine with an electric motor and a rechargeable battery.

The plug-in hybrid system behaves more like a self-charging hybrid system because it's designed so the battery never fully depletes and will keep enough power to tap into electric mode when required.

The result is that Chery Group cars, whether Tiggo, Jaecoo or Omoda models, offer EV-only ranges of up to 93 miles.

The Jaecoo 7 SHS-P has an EV-only range of 56 miles and a total combined range of 745 miles. The so-called 'Temu Range Rover' - because it looks like a Range Rover Velar but costs half the price - has turned into a sales sensation and is the best-selling Chinese car in the country.

As well as the price, many new Jaecoo 7 SHS owners have told us they love the plug-in hybrid system, 754-mile range and the saving it provides.

Chantel Lord, 31, of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, who goes by Diaries of a Business Mum on TikTok and Instagram, swapped out her four-year-old Range Rover Sport Autobiography, saying: 'The Jaecoo only costs £60 to fill up and lasts forever, versus about £100 for the Range Rover.'

With Chinese plug-in hybrid models like this flying out of showrooms, it's no surprise that European brands are bringing to market new PHEVs with much longer EV-only electric ranges than before.

A new Audi A3 TFSI (£39,940) comes with an EV-only range of up to 88 miles. Similarly, a Toyota RAV4 Icon (£43,850) comes with over 85 miles of electric-only range, and a Seat Leon e-Hybrid (£37,015) can do up to 82 miles of driving using only the electric battery.

The first Seat Leon e-Hybrid launched in 2020 and only offered 40 miles of EV range.

It's not just the longer ranges either; PHEVs are becoming more appealing because they now offer DC and fast charging, so you can easily run your average daily commute, or even weekly commute, in EV mode and top up quickly on the go.

For instance, the Audi A3 TFSI can fast charge at 50 kW speeds which delivers 10 to 80 per cent recharge in 29 minutes.

So, advances in tech and increased competition mean you get a greater choice of models which offer more electric miles for your money, and fuel savings.

Or at least on paper you do...

Are PHEV fuel savings really what they're cracked up to be?

The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) has concluded that the so-called cost-saving benefits of plug-in hybrid models are so misleading that the misinformation surrounding them is 'a scandal with echoes of dieselgate'.

EU data last year found that plug-in hybrid emissions are almost five times higher, on average, than official manufacturer tests suggest. 

The ECIU predicts that PHEV owners are 'likely spending almost twice as much money to fuel their cars than manufacturers have led them to believe' because 'petrol is more expensive per mile than electricity', and plug-in hybrid car owners typically don't charge their vehicles often enough to make the most of the electric benefits.

Similarly, EV chargepoint manufacturer CTEK found that one in six PHEVs are never plugged in, and another one in 10 PHEV drivers only plug in once a month. 

The CTEK survey of more than 1,000 UK drivers of all fuel types found that 39 per cent of PHEV drivers plug in each day and another 27 per cent twice a week. The remaining nine per cent plug in once a week. 

Viktors Nikolajevs, UK key account manager at CTEK, said: 'The quarter of PHEV drivers who never or rarely plug in are missing out on the financial and environmental benefits of driving electric.'

Put this into pounds and pennies and it will make plug-in hybrid owners' wince.

Drivers are told that yearly fuel and electricity bills for the most popular PHEVs sold in the UK will total around £540 a year on average for petrol and electricity. But the research has found that PHEVs consume 490 per cent more fuel than their manufacturers claim, so the real-world figure is £1,030 – almost twice as high.

Once servicing, tax and insurance costs are factored in, together with the typically higher up-front costs of a PHEV compared to an EV, PHEVs are now over £1,000 a year more expensive to own and operate than an EV, the ECIU says.

This week the ECIU has found that the Government's decision last year to weaken its EV sales targets could end up costing British drivers £13.8billion by encouraging manufacturers to sell more PHEVs rather than EVs. 

Come 2028, add pay-per-mile onto this and the plug-in picture is getting progressively less pretty.

Are PHEVs good value?

Again, it's bad news for buyers here.

Another study from the ECIU found that eight of the UK's 10 best-selling plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) cost more to buy than their electric equivalents.

The April analysis found that the UK's 10 best-selling plug-in hybrids are now, on average, £4,150 more expensive than equivalent EVs - around a 10 per cent premium. 

At the same time, Autotrader data showed that electric cars have become cheaper than petrol models overall.

A VW Tiguan PHEV is £5,780 more expensive to buy than the VW ID.4 EV and the MG HS PHEV is £3,400 more expensive than the MG S5 EV - to take just two examples.

Commenting on the analysis, Colin Walker, head of transport at the ECIU, said: 'Sales of PHEVs are growing strongly, but on the back of figures that don't stack up.

'With more drivers looking to shield themselves from rocketing fuel prices, there is a risk that some will make the switch to vehicles that simply won't deliver the savings promised of them.

'The reality is that PHEVs cost more to buy, and more to run, than their electric equivalents.'