Why Brits are swapping their second car for an electric bike – and how one family saved £2,400 in a year

Ryan Collins • December 10, 2025 16:43

The second car on the drive used to feel like security. School runs, quick dashes to the supermarket, a backup when trains sulked and buses disappeared. Now, with insurance jumping, fuel yo-yoing and parking rules tightening, more British households are quietly asking the same question: do we really need it?

In its place, a different silhouette is appearing in front gardens and on terraced streets: a sturdy electric bike with a child seat, panniers or a long tail for cargo. For one family in Surrey, that swap shaved around £2,400 off their annual outgoings – without turning them into hardcore cyclists or moving to a car‑free utopia.

The pattern is repeating from Belfast to Brighton. As living costs squeeze and cities calm traffic, the “always there” second car is starting to look less like freedom and more like a monthly bill waiting to be cut.

The Surrey family who traded keys for a battery

Hannah and James live in a three‑bed semi outside Guildford with two children, aged 5 and 8. Until last year, they ran two small petrol cars. James drove to an office park fifteen miles away. Hannah used the second car for school runs, her part‑time job at a GP practice, and everything from swimming lessons to supermarket shops.

By spring, their renewal quotes told the story before they did. Insurance for the second car jumped above £700. The last MOT came with a £480 repair bill. A neighbour mentioned that she’d started doing the school run on an electric cargo bike instead.

“I thought e‑bikes were for sporty types,” Hannah admits. “Then I realised it was basically a bike that doesn’t let you arrive sweaty.”

They borrowed that neighbour’s bike for a weekend. One test ride to school and back – with two slightly sceptical children on the back – convinced them they could at least try going down to one car.

Where the £2,400 saving actually came from

On paper, the second car didn’t look extravagant. It was eight years old, small engine, nothing flashy. Yet once they added up the real numbers, the couple realised how much it quietly cost them to sit on the drive.

Here’s how their first year looked after selling the second car and buying an electric bike instead.

What they stopped paying for

Insurance: about £720 a year for the second car.
Fuel: averaging £55 a month, roughly £660 a year.
Vehicle tax: £180 a year.
MOT + routine servicing: their last two years averaged £450 (MOT, minor repairs, oil, tyres).
Parking and odds and ends: school event parking, hospital visits, the occasional town centre car park – around £150 a year.

Total annual running cost they avoided: £2,160.

They also sidestepped the slow, less visible loss: depreciation. The car was losing perhaps £400–£600 in value each year, even just sitting there.

What they started paying for

Electric cargo bike: bought new on a 0% finance deal at £2,400, spread over three years (£800 a year equivalent).
Insurance for the bike: comprehensive cover including theft and accidental damage at about £120 a year.
Servicing, pads, tyres, chain: they budget £80 a year on average.
Electricity for charging: almost a rounding error – under £15 a year even with regular long rides.

Total annual bike‑related cost in year one: about £1,015.

Subtract one from the other and their net saving in the first year was just over £2,400, once they factor in the car’s likely depreciation. In later years, once the finance is paid off, that saving should grow.

“We weren’t trying to be virtuous,” James says. “It was a spreadsheet decision that happened to make our life nicer.”

Why the second car is quietly becoming a luxury

For many British households, the second car originally arrived when children did, or when commutes pulled partners in opposite directions. It felt essential at the time.

What’s changed isn’t just the price of petrol. It’s everything wrapped around it:

Insurance premiums rising sharply, especially in urban postcodes.
Stricter parking rules in many towns, with residents’ permits and workplace levies.
Clean air zones and ULEZ‑style charges making older second cars more expensive to run where they’re used most.
Better local delivery options reducing the need for “just popping out in the car” for bulky items.

At the same time, electric bikes have moved from niche to normal. You now see them locked outside supermarkets and schools, not just on leisure trails. Motor assistance flattens hills and shortens perceived distance, which matters in a country where many trips are within easy cycling range.

The Department for Transport’s own travel data is blunt: a large share of car journeys in Britain are under five miles. Those are precisely the trips e‑bikes eat for breakfast.

What an electric bike actually replaces in daily life

For the Surrey family, the e‑bike now covers most of the jobs the second car used to do:

School run: a fifteen‑minute ride each way instead of a ten‑minute drive plus parking hunt. Children sit on a padded rear bench with belts.
Work commute (for Hannah): three miles along back streets and a riverside path. She arrives without needing a shower thanks to the motor assist.
Shopping: weekly shop done more often as two smaller trips, with panniers and a front crate. Big “crate of cat litter” orders come via delivery.
Clubs and playdates: anything within four or five miles is on the bike; further afield trips are planned around the remaining car or trains.

The car hasn’t vanished from their life. It still handles long motorway trips, visiting grandparents and occasional bad‑weather days when everyone’s tired. The difference is that it’s one car, shared and scheduled, rather than two idling on the drive out of habit.

Comparing the numbers: second car vs e‑bike

Below is a simplified illustration of typical annual costs for a modest second car versus a mid‑range e‑bike in the UK. Real figures vary by postcode and model, but the pattern is consistent.

Item	Second car (per year)	E‑bike (per year)
Insurance	£500–£800	£80–£150
Fuel / charging	£600–£900	£10–£20
Tax, MOT, servicing	£400–£700	£60–£120
Parking, odds & ends	£100–£200	£0–£50

On top of that, the purchase price of the car continues to erode through depreciation. The e‑bike holds its value better proportionally, and has lower absolute exposure if stolen or written off.

The simple takeaway: if your second car mainly does short local trips, it is unusually vulnerable to being replaced.

How to tell if an e‑bike could replace your second car

Not every household can ditch a vehicle. Shift work, rural isolation and caring responsibilities all complicate the picture. But there are some clear signals that an e‑bike could credibly step in.

Ask yourself:

Are most second‑car journeys under 5–7 miles each way?
Do those trips happen mainly in daylight and on local roads, not motorways?
Is at least one adult comfortable cycling if hills and headwinds are taken out of the equation?
Do you have somewhere secure to store a bike – a shed, hallway or back yard?
Would losing the second car feel like an inconvenience, not a crisis, if you could still access one car, trains, buses, taxis and car clubs?

If you’re nodding along to most of those, the economics may already favour a switch. The real work is testing whether the routine feels tolerable in real weather, with real bags and real children.

Obstacles people worry about – and how families work around them

Talking to early adopters, the same objections keep surfacing. They’re not trivial, but they’re often solvable with a bit of planning.

Weather and “I don’t want to arrive soaked”

Rain gear moved from hiking cupboard to daily hook. A decent waterproof jacket and over‑trousers cost less than a single month of car insurance.
Shorter, more frequent shops mean fewer “mega trips” where you’d arrive dripping.
Backup plans: on truly foul days, they either use the remaining car or accept the occasional taxi.

Safety and mixing with traffic

People plot routes that avoid main roads, even if they’re slightly longer. Back streets, canals, parks and quietways make rides feel safer.
Many invest in bright lights, high‑visibility covers and mirrors, just as you would good wiper blades and tyres for a car.
Parents often practise the route without children first, then add them once they know the tricky junctions.

Carrying kids and cargo

Long‑tail e‑bikes or front‑loader “bakfiets” style bikes handle two children plus bags comfortably.
Panniers swallow a surprising amount: a weekly shop, laptop, PE kits and a violin can all fit with careful packing.
For very occasional IKEA‑scale missions, people lean on delivery or car‑sharing clubs.

Hills and fitness

Motor assistance is tuned to precisely this problem. In practice, most riders:

Use higher assist levels up steep sections, then dial it back on the flat.
Build fitness gently without being punished for taking the scenic, hillier way home.
Discover that “too hilly” was mostly a perception tied to acoustic bikes.

A simple way to test the idea without selling the car

Few people will sell a car on a hunch. The families who make the switch tend to run an experiment first.

Track your second‑car journeys for a month. Use a notebook or your phone. Note distance, purpose, time of day.
Borrow or hire an e‑bike for a week where possible. Some councils, shops and workplaces run trial schemes.
Replace as many of those trips as you can with the e‑bike, while keeping both cars. Pay attention not just to time, but to stress levels and how often you still choose the car.
Run the numbers: what would you actually save, using your real insurance quotes, tax band and fuel consumption?
Only then decide whether to sell, downsize or keep both.

The goal isn’t to become “a cycling family”. It’s to see whether your second car is quietly costing you more than it gives back.

Beyond money: small quality‑of‑life shifts

Most conversations about second cars and e‑bikes start with spreadsheets. They rarely end there.

People mention unexpected side‑effects:

The school run becomes face‑to‑face chat time, not “everyone staring straight ahead in traffic”.
Children learn local geography and road sense sooner.
Short trips feel less like a faff; popping to the pharmacy becomes a five‑minute glide rather than a parking negotiation.
Step counts and general fitness creep up without anyone going near a gym.

None of that pays the gas bill. But when combined with a four‑figure annual saving, it shifts the emotional equation. A battery‑assisted bike stops looking like a toy and starts feeling like a household appliance – as normal as the washing machine.

FAQ:

Is an e‑bike really cheaper once you include the purchase price? In most cases where a second car only does local trips, yes. Even when you include finance payments, the annual cost of purchase plus running is usually far lower than insurance, fuel, tax, MOT and repairs for a car of any age.

What about theft – aren’t expensive bikes a target? They can be, which is why secure storage, a quality lock and appropriate insurance matter. Many people keep e‑bikes indoors or in locked sheds and use gold‑rated locks when out and about. Insurance is still far cheaper than for a car.

Can I use an e‑bike if I’m not very fit or have mild health issues? Many people with low baseline fitness use e‑bikes precisely because the motor flattens hills and reduces strain. If you have specific health concerns, speak to a GP first, but for most adults, assisted cycling is gentler than unassisted riding.

Will I still need a car at all? Most British families who drop a second car keep at least one vehicle, plus access to trains, buses or car clubs. In dense urban areas, some do go fully car‑free, but the major financial win comes from losing the extra car that sits idle most of the time.

What if my council doesn’t have safe cycle lanes? Dedicated lanes help, but they’re not the only option. Many riders stitch together quieter residential streets, parks and shared paths. Local cycling groups or route‑planning apps can help you find low‑traffic routes you might not know by car.