Charging an EV is Now a Cheaper Option as Fuel Prices Continue to Rise

The cost to recharge an electric vehicle is now more affordable than refuelling a petrol car. AA’s monthly Recharge Report pointed out that the cost to charge an electric car did not change between February and March. The average flat rate to use a public rapid (up to 100kW) or an ultra-rapid (over 100kW) charger has been unaffected at 74p and 77p per kilowatt-hour respectively. The same trend was observed for public chargers as well with the cost to charge per kilowatt-hour at 60p for fast chargers (up to 22kW) and 52p for slow chargers (up to 8kW). Furthermore, stable home energy prices meant that the average cost to charge an EV at home remained at just 29p per kilowatt-hour.

Why are Fuel Prices in the UK Going Up?

Petrol prices, on the other hand, have seen an increase of eight pence per litre in this year’s first quarter. Fuel prices have been volatile since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions placed on the Kremlin meant that the price of oil rose to a whopping $100 per barrel when the war started two years ago. However, a lot has happened ever since. The most recent instance would be the war in Gaza as well as Israel’s bad relations with Iran means that oil prices are once again seeing a spike at over $80 per barrel.

Stability Due to Greater Transparency

As for the stability in prices of EV charging, much of it could be seen as a direct effect of greater price transparency. For over three years, EG Group has been installing signage at its EV charging stations that display live pricing. While its adoption has been slow with other providers, the UK govt. Introduced new laws in November last year to ensure that charge point operators are openly displaying the cost of charging “on the public charge point or through a separate device”. We have already seen Tesla follow suit with its latest V4 Supercharger, with Sainsbury’s new Smart Charge programme which featured live pricing data and contactless payment.

AA has been calling for a slash in VAT from 20 to five per cent to make public EV charging more affordable and subsequently more enticing. However, the government responded stating that such a tax cut “would impose additional pressure on the public finances to which VAT makes a significant contribution.”