Best electricity provider for hybrid car charging

charlies_mum

We have just purchased a hybrid car and will be looking to charge almost every day so checking if there is a provider who gives a good deal for this

With Tonik currently who have a new tariff coming in on 1st April which gives 2550 free miles and a free outside charge point.

Does anyone know if any other suppliers offering deals ?

jcontest

The charging comes from your normal supply so all you need to do is estimate the kWh and feed that back into a price comparison site. Back when I had my Leaf charging was still free at the Ecotricity rapid chargers (and Asda slooo chargers) so I didn't buy a specific plan that included EV Charging.



You can get a free charging plug from a few different suppliers. Bear in mind it's not really "Free", it's just that they are claiming the money back and we (all) are paying for it indirectly. When I had mine installed (free) the unit was billed at exactly the price that the subsidy charged, a few weeks later the subsidy was cut in half and like magic the total install cost for new units was cut in half too.


If you do not have a RCD style breaker then you will need one, when mine was installed they couldn't (or wouldn't) source a RCD breaker for my fuse box, so I had to have a second fuse box fitted with a separate RCD, same issue with my solar pv system too (God my wall is a mess).


I would use Zap-Map and try to find what rapid chargers your going to use, and then look to see if those providers are also suppliers. If I still had my Leaf I would consider looking at the Ecotricity package for my area (not sure how price compares), but Ecotricity and Chargemaster/Polar are my two main options.


I would also say, Make sure your "Free" charging point is the highest amperage they will allow. If I could do it again I would also get a socketed version instead of a tethered version, but that wasn't a big deal.


If your going to charge on the night-rate of a split meter then the numbers get a lot more difficult. The few cars I have had a look at allow charging to start/stop via a "timer" so you should be able to take advantage.

charlies_mum

We have the Mitsubishi PHEV which plugs into a standard socket, so the 'free' charger isn't a necessity.

Phoned Bulb but they didn't have much idea on the subject, so at the moment Tonik looks like the best option but as our Deal of 12.33 / kw ends in May, just looking around

ASavvyBuyer

jcontest wrote: »

I would use Zap-Map and try to find what rapid chargers your going to use,

If it is a hybrid, there is not much point in looking for Rapid chargers as most hybrids only charge at less than 7kWh, which can be easily done on ordinary fast chargers. You will also find a lot more fast chargers, all over the country, as they are a lot cheaper to install than Rapid chargers.