The Toyota RAV4 this week added another trophy to the many the SUV has secured over its 30-year history, when it was named the best plug-in hybrid at the awards run by automotive sales platform AutoTrader.
Not so long ago, Toyota might have considered such an award a nice-to-have, but not worth worrying about nearly as much as other more important gongs – but no longer. After many years when both manufacturers and buyers ignored plug-in hybrids, or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) as the industry dubs them, they are now rocketing in popularity – and that’s good news for any driver who has a company car and so pays Benefit-in-Kind (BIK) tax.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) show that so far in 2025 plug-in hybrid registrations have climbed some 32%, a rate only just behind fully electric vehicle (EV) growth which is running at 33.4%.
Admittedly the 85,700 PHEVs added to the UK roads this year are only around half of the BEVs but there have still been close to 21,000 more PHEVs sold than at this time last year. And in May alone the growth rate for PHEVs was more than 50%, double that of EVs.
So it is clear that the plug-in hybrid is no longer the ignored problem child in the race to electrification that it was for both manufacturers and buyers just a couple of years ago. Now it’s just a case of choosing the right PHEV.
Which hybrid is which?
First let’s be clear as to what a PHEV is. There are basically three kinds of hybrids. The mild hybrid has a small electric generator that might provide the slightest boost to the normally petrol engine on starting and a marginal improvement in fuel economy.
The hybrid, sometimes erroneously described as a ‘self-charging hybrid’, has been around the longest – the famous early standard-bearer was the Toyota Prius but there are plenty of hybrids on sale today, such as the Lexus LBX we tested recently.
Hybrids combine an electric motor and battery with the again normally petrol engine. This offers extra power to that engine and again improves fuel economy and emissions, while allowing some travel on electric power alone – but only at gentle pace and for very few miles. The engine still does most of the work and recharges the hybrid battery at the same time, so you don’t have to plug it in.
Plug-in hybrids, as their name suggests, have larger batteries that are charged externally. They can run on electric power for longer, at greater speed, and the driver can choose to use their electric power at certain times, such as in a low-emission zone. But the engine always remains present to take over as soon as the battery becomes close to exhaustion.
Official fuel economy and emissions figures for PHEVs aid their case too, fuel economy typically into three figures and emissions usually less than 50g/km, which has in the past produced serious Vehicle Excise Duty (road tax) savings despite such cars never achieving such figures on the road.
Manufacturers like plug-in hybrids because they help reduce overall CO2 emissions figures and the threat of fines from the likes of the UK Government’s Zero Emissions Mandate. They are cheaper than an EV and easier to sell to a sceptical public still not convinced by electric and still worrying about such matters as range anxiety.
Buyers like PHEVs because they have the ‘safety net’ of the petrol engine so an almost empty battery does not mean desperately looking for a public charging point, and they cost less to buy. Company car buyers particularly like them because of the potentially huge BIK tax benefits.
So if your car is provided by your employer, and you don’t want to go fully electric, you really should be looking at a PHEV. But this is where you have to be careful, because now there is a graduated rate of BIK tax governed by how far the vehicle can travel on electric power alone.
In 2025-26 that rate varies from just 2% for cars that can travel 130 miles-plus on just electric power, to 15% for those only managing under 30 miles. Most PHEVs sit somewhere in the middle – the RAV4, for example, is rated at 46 miles on pure electric and falls into the 40-69 mile band, rated at 9% BIK.
The MG HS offers a long electric range for little more than £20,000.
Some go further, the Skoda Superb Estate for example rated at 84 miles and 6% BIK. Even the MG HS, costing from only £21,500, claims a 75-mile electric range.
Home comforts
There is one more cost to consider, as if you are going to buy a PHEV it’s a good idea to get a home wallbox to charge it with. While the initial cost may be around £1000, you’ll be able to recharge your car each night at rates around 7pm per kilowatt hour or less, compared to public chargers that can routinely exceed 70p.
Fitting a home charge point will also add value to your house, as well as being there ready if and when you take the full electric plunge, as the politicians insist we will all be doing eventually. With the average UK daily commute being only around nine miles, a typical PHEV owner charging at home will rarely trouble a filling station – until they want to do that journey to visit family or friends on the opposite side of the country.
Of course you don’t have to charge your PHEV at all – you can let the battery discharge and then simply run it on petrol power while still enjoying the low BIK rates. This is not a good idea however – not only will you miss out on electric savings, you’ll add to your fuel costs as with the extra weight of motor and battery alongside the engine plug-in hybrids are heavy, and so use more fuel – so it makes sense to get that wallbox.
There is a sting in the tail, however. Current Government plans for BIK rates have them increasing by a single percentage per tax year, until 2028-29 when all plug-in hybrids will be rated the same for BIK, and that rate significantly increased – our RAV4, for example will jump from 11% BIK in 2027 to 18% in 2028.
So yes, the manufacturers are offering more PHEVs because many people are waking up to their advantages. How long those advantages will last is open to question, but for now any company car driver not driving electric, really should be driving a PHEV.
