EV charging cost

The gap between charging at home overnight and charging at a motorway rapid is enormous — bigger than the gap between electric and petrol.

Miles a year

Miles per kWh

3.5 typical, 4+ in summer

Home rate (p/kWh)

Petrol car mpg

Charging at home

£160

2p per mile

Public rapid charging

£1,806

at 79p per kWh

Petrol equivalent

£1,091

13.64p per mile

Charging at home saves £931 a year against petrol. Relying on public rapids costs £715 more than petrol.

Home charging is the whole argument

On a dedicated overnight EV tariff, home charging costs a small fraction of petrol. Relying on public rapid chargers, an electric car can cost roughly the same as petrol or more. If you cannot charge at home, the running-cost case for an EV is much weaker than the headlines suggest — and that is worth knowing before you buy, not after.