If you drive for a living, you don't need a news article to tell you petrol got expensive this year. You've watched it happen, a few pounds at a time, every time you fill up. But with prices jumping around since February, it's hard to know what the damage actually adds up to, or whether this is finally the moment the maths tips in favour of going electric.

That's why we built the calculator further down this page. Answer five quick questions and it will show you how much of your income fuel is swallowing right now, and what switching to an EV would actually mean for your take-home pay. First, here's what happened to prices this year, and why the pressure at the pump isn't going away.

The 2026 petrol price spike, in 60 seconds

At the end of February 2026, conflict in the Middle East disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that carries roughly 20% of the world's energy supply. UK pump prices reacted fast.

Petrol climbed from around 133p per litre in late February to a peak of 158.78p in late May, the highest sustained level since the summer of 2022 (RAC Fuel Watch). Diesel was hit even harder, rising every single day for 40 consecutive days and peaking at 192.14p in mid-April.

Prices have eased since then. As of mid-July, petrol averages around 151p per litre and diesel around 165–167p (GOV.UK weekly road fuel prices). But that's still roughly 18p and 25p per litre above where the year started. Here's what that looks like at the forecourt for a 55-litre tank:

Sources: RAC Fuel Watch; GOV.UK weekly road fuel prices, July 2026. Averages across UK forecourts; prices near you can vary by 20p per litre or more between stations.

What that adds up to over a working year

Take a full-time private hire driver: five days a week, eight-hour shifts, around 800 miles a week including dead miles. In a typical petrol car doing 38mpg, that's roughly 96 litres of fuel every week.

At today's prices, that's about £145 a week on petrol, compared with around £127 back in February. That's an extra £70 a month, or roughly £830 over a 48-week working year, for doing exactly the same job in exactly the same car.

Look at it another way: on a gross week of £640, that £145 means nearly a quarter of everything you earn goes straight into the tank. That's one full working day a week just to pay for fuel, before insurance, tax or anything else comes out.

Don't count on prices falling back

Pump prices usually dip a little in autumn as summer driving demand fades, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has largely recovered. But there's a bigger reason not to bank on cheap petrol returning: fuel duty is going up.

The 5p-per-litre duty cut that's been in place since 2022 expires at the end of 2026. Duty rises by 3p per litre on 1 January 2027, another 2p in March 2027, and from April 2027 it starts rising with inflation every year. In other words: even if oil prices stay exactly where they are, a litre of petrol will cost around 6p more (including VAT) by next spring, purely through tax. The long-term floor under petrol prices is moving up, not down.

Meanwhile, the per-mile gap with electric is wide open

Electricity hasn't escaped 2026's energy squeeze: the Ofgem price cap rose 13% in July. But the per-mile arithmetic still isn't close. At around 26–28p per kWh on a standard home tariff, a typical EV costs roughly 8–9p per mile to run. A 38mpg petrol car at 151p per litre costs about 18p per mile. On an off-peak overnight EV tariff at 7–8p per kWh, it drops to 2–3p per mile.

The honest caveat: if you'd rely mostly on public rapid chargers at 65p+ per kWh, an EV can cost as much per mile as petrol, and sometimes more. Where you can charge matters more than what you drive, which is exactly why a one-size-fits-all answer doesn't work.

(For the full electric vs petrol picture, including ULEZ and Congestion Charge rules, road tax, servicing and the best EVs for gig work, see our complete guide: Electric vs petrol: which is more profitable for UK Uber and delivery drivers in 2026?)

Work out your own numbers in under a minute

The calculator above is built for gig drivers, not general motorists. Tell it five things: what kind of gig work you do (private hire, food delivery, parcels or multi-app), how many days and hours you work, what you currently drive and pay for fuel, what kind of EV you'd consider, and where you'd mostly charge.

It estimates your weekly miles and earnings from your gig type and hours. If you know your real numbers, you can type them in instead. You'll get your extra take-home per year, month and week from switching, how much of your earnings fuel eats now versus in an EV, a weekly cost breakdown, and the CO₂ you'd save.

And it plays it straight: if an EV would cost you more to run, usually because you'd depend on public rapid charging, it tells you that too, along with what would need to change to flip the result.

Making the switch? Sort your cover in minutes

If the numbers stack up and you're ready to go electric, insurance is the last piece. INSHUR offers specialist cover built for gig drivers: EV private hire insurance, courier insurance and food delivery insurance, with quotes in minutes, so switching vehicles doesn't mean weeks of admin.

Get a quote today and keep more of what you earn.

Sources:

RAC Fuel Watch (rac.co.uk/drive/advice/fuel-watch); GOV.UK weekly road fuel prices, July 2026; GOV.UK fuel duty rates 2026–27; Ofgem energy price cap, July–September 2026.

Figures are UK averages and estimates for guidance only.