How much does it cost to charge an electric car?
Electric vehicles are becoming more and more popular, as petrol prices remain high and people search for more environmentally friendly options.
The UK Government is providing £500m over the next five years to support the roll-out of a fast-charging network for electric vehicles, ensuring that drivers will never be further than 30 miles from a rapid charging station.
There are an estimated 400,000 electric cars on the road in the UK and more than 750,000 plug-in hybrids.
In April 2022, 12,899 new electric vehicles were sold – a 40.9 per cent increase on April 2022. This gives them a 10.8 per cent market share.
As they grow in popularity, here’s what you need to know about charging costs, and how it compares to petrol.
How much does it cost to charge an electric car?
The cost of charging your electric car depends on how and where you charge it.
Fully charging an electric car at home costs around £15.10, based on a typical electric car with a 60kWh battery and range of around 200 miles, at an average cost of 28p/kWh.
Outside of the home, Pod Point rapid chargers cost 23p/kWh at Lidl and 24p/kWh at Tesco, which is about £6-£7 for 30 minutes of charging (about 100 miles of range).
Costs tend to be similar at motorway service stations.
On most modern networks you can use a free-to-download mobile app to find charge points.
The Tesla supercharger network has points across the UK which are often free to use for owners of Tesla electric vehicles.
How does it compare to petrol?
At present, a litre of unleaded petrol costs around £1.73. Super unleaded costs around £1.85, and diesel is £1.83.
These prices are all expected to continue rising.
That means for a small car like a Ford Fiesta, 100 miles of travel costs around £14 – double the price of travelling the same distance in an electric vehicle.
For a larger car like a Land Rover the cost is significantly higher – in excess of £30 for 100 miles of travel.