Increasing costs of EV Charging

phil1reynolds

Have the savings changed in owning an EV now energy prices have gone through the roof and so has price of electricity - at home , in garages, in supermarkets etc?

mysteryUser

It's a difficult one to calculate, there are many variables. 

Public rapid charging can be much more expensive than charging at home or slower charging in public. 
Charging at home with a dedicated EV tariff during the cheaper hours is far cheaper than charging on a flat rate home tariff. 

I have a PHEV. Short trips on ICE are about 17p per mile based on 45mpg. On electricity at 28p per kWh it's around 8.2p per mile. I'm only paying 5.6per mile as my home electricity is fixed at 19.35p for the next 18 months or so and actually I charge at pubic chargers for 0p per kWh fairly often. 

For my situation electricity would have to be around 60p per kWh to match the price of petrol. 

Public charging networks doing rapid, such as Instavolt are currently charging 57p per kWh. If you have a full EV and only ever charge using that tariff then I guess it would be largely similar to the cost of petrol - although you'd have cheaper servicing costs. 

daveyjp

All relative considering how much petrol and diesel has increased since the start of the year.

Keep_pedalling

For me the cost of home charging has gone up 50% (5ppkWh to 7.5ppkWh) while my other home use of electric has more than doubled. I have never charged in a super market in the 9 months I have been driving an EV but I think some are still free.

The increase in home charging cost has added about 0.75p per mile to my driving costs but I don’t know how that compares with the increase in petrol / diesel costs on a ppm basis.

I have only used rapid chargers twice for a top up but that was last week travelling to one from West Dorset where the price was 48ppkWh but some very fast chargers are now over 60p.

shinytop

phil1reynolds said:

Have the savings changed in owning an EV now energy prices have gone through the roof and so has price of electricity - at home , in garages, in supermarkets etc?

Yes.  Electricity has gone up more than petrol/diesel so the savings in running costs from an EV compared to petrol/diesel are less.  

Freecall

It is a difficult question to answer although, as always, it rather depends on how keen you are to save money.

The 3 main charging environments are as follows :

DC rapid chargers
At around 40p to 75p they are by far the most expensive.  I would imagine that the vast majority of non-corporate drivers rarely use them.  Ultimately they work out at about the same as an ICE per mile.  (at 3m/kWh that is about 20p/mile)

Home charging
This obviously depends on the tariff you are signed up to although a lot of people are still on 5p with companies such as Octopus.  As these run out though they are heading for 7.5p so increasing.  I imagine that this is where most drivers do the vast majority of their charging.  (at 3m/kWh that is about 2p/mile so 1/10th of the cost)

Free supermarket charging
If you are really keen and are happy to sit in a supermarket car-park then free is as cheap as you can get.  It would need real dedication although I imagine some dedicated MSEers no doubt do it.

So the bottom line is that DC rapid chargers are about the same as an ICE but home charging is still a shed load cheaper.  Free beats the lot but is only for the most dedicated money saver.

Freecall

Oh, forgot to mention, last (and best of all if you have access)

Free charging at work
This has to be best as it's free and you are probably parked there all day anyway.  Although I  have no idea how many actually get this perk.

Herzlos

Freecall said:

Free supermarket charging
If you are really keen and are happy to sit in a supermarket car-park then free is as cheap as you can get.  It would need real dedication although I imagine some dedicated MSEers no doubt do it.

But you don't need to sit in the the car park. You can do some shopping, sit in the cafe, whatever. You probably should at least spend some money in the supermarket before wandering off, though, since it's only fair.

We're rarely round Asda in under an hour for the weekly shopping so can get a lot of free electrons in that time.

Car_54

Freecall said:

Oh, forgot to mention, last (and best of all if you have access)

Free charging at work
This has to be best as it's free and you are probably parked there all day anyway.  Although I  have no idea how many actually get this perk.

But should be taxed as a benefit in kind.

Herzlos

Car_54 said:

Freecall said:

Oh, forgot to mention, last (and best of all if you have access)

Free charging at work
This has to be best as it's free and you are probably parked there all day anyway.  Although I  have no idea how many actually get this perk.

But should be taxed as a benefit in kind.

Is it worth it for a couple of quid a day?

Grumpy_chap

I was looking to change car and considering an EV early 2020 and did some calculations about the cost of EV charging versus ICE fuel and found that the pence per mile was about the same if calculated on paid for public charging versus forecourt petrol.  The difference was that the EV offered some opportunity for lower energy costs via home charging, sometimes free charging, even opportunities such as solar (which I do not have at this time).  When I did the calculations over all I also felt that the HMRC AMAP rates for company car fuel were reasonably reflected of what the costs would be - from memory that was about 4 pence per mile for EV and about 12 pence per mile for ICE.

A lot has changed since then, COVID meant I never changed car, and I have not re-worked the calculations.  I suspect the outcome would be broadly similar and I suspect that the latest HMRC AMAP rates would still be reasonably reflective for a user with suitable home charging.  These rates today are 5 pence per mile EV and the range 13 to 25 pence per mile petrol.  Fuel (energy) only rates.

Car_54 said:

Freecall said:

Oh, forgot to mention, last (and best of all if you have access)

Free charging at work
This has to be best as it's free and you are probably parked there all day anyway.  Although I  have no idea how many actually get this perk.

But should be taxed as a benefit in kind.

You may think that, but it is not based upon current rules.