The electric takeover just hit warp speed: why 2025 is the year you’ll regret sticking with petrol

The electric takeover just hit warp speed: why 2025 is the year you’ll regret sticking with petrol

10 December 2025

The electric car market has just pulled off a stunt that would make even the most committed petrolhead raise an eyebrow in quiet admiration. In the first nine months of 2025, global sales rocketed 35 % higher than last year, smashing records pretty much everywhere that matters. China is already flirting with a 60 % EV market share, the world is barrelling toward 20 million units sold this year alone, and more than one in four new cars leaving a showroom now runs on electrons rather than dead dinosaurs. This isn’t a trend anymore. It’s the new default setting, and it feels rather good.

Let’s talk about what actually just happened, because the timing is delicious. At the end of November, the United Arab Emirates fired the starting gun on a nationwide programme to electrify every public-sector fleet: buses, taxis, government limos, the lot. Picture Dubai’s boulevards filled with silent, sleek machines instead of the usual haze of exhaust. Saudi Arabia followed suit by throwing hundreds of millions at battery gigafactories, Qatar started handing out juicy incentives to importers and buyers, and suddenly the spiritual home of oil looks like the most exciting electric playground on the planet. This isn’t a footnote; it’s the moment an entire region flipped the script, and the shockwave is being felt from Shanghai to Stuttgart.

Now, let’s get behind the wheel, because that’s where the real fun starts. A Tesla Model 3 that punches you from 0-100 km/h in under five seconds without swallowing a drop of fuel. A Volkswagen ID. Buzz that looks like it escaped from the 1960s but will happily whisk you from London to Cornwall and still have juice left for fish and chips. Or a Hyundai Ioniq 6 that slices through the air like a stealth fighter while staying library-quiet. These aren’t fragile science projects anymore; they’re solid, grin-inducing machines that happen to be addictive. The silence on board? Blissful. The instant surge? Borderline naughty. The smirk you wear when you smoke a V8 off the lights? Priceless.

As for the wallet warriors who still whine that “they’re too expensive”, wake up and smell the savings. Battery prices are in free-fall, factories are churning out cells like there’s no tomorrow (Toyota’s brand-new North Carolina plant that opened in November being the latest example), and a decent entry-level EV now costs roughly the same as its petrol equivalent up front. Factor in the laughably low running costs—basically electricity at night-rate and barely any servicing—and you’re thousands better off after five years, even if oil crashes to forty bucks a barrel. That’s not wishful thinking; that’s cold, hard maths.

The charging network? It’s growing faster than excuses at a Monday morning meeting. Fast-chargers are popping up everywhere, smart grids ping your phone when it’s time to plug in, and vehicle-to-grid tech is starting to appear so your car can power the house when the sun goes down. Range anxiety is officially yesterday’s problem.

And the planet? Every EV sold saves tonnes of CO₂, and by 2030 we’ll be sparing the world five million barrels of oil a day. That’s not virtue-signalling; that’s proper, measurable change that lets you enjoy driving with a clear conscience.

Yes, there’s always one bloke at the pub moaning about range or charging time. Fine. Answer: the best current models deliver well over 500 real-world kilometres, and a 20-minute coffee stop gets you back to 80 %. In other words, we’ve gone from moped to supersonic jet. You adapt once, then wonder why you ever put up with the old way.

Bottom line: the electric car is no longer the worthy choice for tree-huggers. It’s the fastest, cheapest-to-run, and most enjoyable option on the table. It glides along in near-silence, saves you serious money, and drops you at your destination feeling rather smug.

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