The Cost of Charging an EV

When it comes to electric vehicles, it’s important to consider how much it costs to run, particularly in relation to petrol, diesel and hybrid cars. The best savings can be made when you’re charging at home as the price of electricity has been fixed until April 2023. As the price of fuel has increased over the past year, this fixed electricity cost can be used to your benefit.

Home charging will cost you 34p/kWh, but public charge points are dearer, with the average costing 63p/kWh. Depending on whether you’re utilising a Rapid or Ultra Rapid charge point, this can be even more, up to 100p/kWh. When looking at these prices, it’s no wonder that home charging can offer you substantial savings. But what about those who can’t charge at home or need to charge elsewhere? Fortunately, you can find free public charge points.

Zap-Map has over 90% of the UK’s public charge points on record and these can even be filtered to show you free points. These tend to be at supermarkets or at car parks that would still require a parking ticket and sometimes you need to activate the point either online or through an app to initiate the charging sequence. While the charge of an EV can change depending on where and how you’re charging, it’s worth seeing how this compares with the price of petrol and diesel cars. If you’re charging faster, you’ll be charging more expensively, which can cost you more than filling up a petrol or diesel car over the course of a year.

According to Which?, the typical yearly mileage is 8,100. With electricity fixed at 34p/kWh for home charging, you can expect the following averages for the cost of charging an EV.

Realistically, it depends on the size of your car as well as how you charge it because some cars are better at holding a charge than others. With EVs as well, batteries need to be supplied with more power than they can hold in order to reach 100% capacity.

The following cost breakdowns are based on petrol at 162.7p per litre and diesel at 180.2p per litre over the course of 8,100 miles. While home charging is the cheapest option, you will need to keep the price per kilowatt hour below those specified in order to be cheaper.

Medium Cars

• Medium EVs consume an average of 3.12 miles per kWh

• Medium petrol cars equates to 55p per kWh or £1,433

• The diesel equivalent is 46p per kWh or £1,185

Large Cars

• Large EVs consume about 3.07 miles per kWh

• Large petrol cars cost around 63p per kWh all year or £1,704

• A diesel car would be 51p per kWh or £1,371

• A full petrol hybrid is around 39p per kWh or £1,047

Small SUVs

• Small SUV EVs consume around 3.06 miles per kWh

• A small petrol EV costs 54p per kWh or £1,437

• Diesel, on the other hand, will cost 51p per kWh or £1,354

• A full petrol hybrid costs 44p per kWh or £1,183

All Other SUVs

• All other sized SUV EVs consume around 2.65 miles per kWh

• Petrol equivalents cost 51p per kWh or £1,574

• Diesel SUVs cost 53p per kWh or £1,607

• A full petrol hybrid SUV will cost 43p per kWh or £1,305