Running Electric Cars are up to Twice as Expensive as Petrol or Diesel Vehicles

Electric cars can cost up to twice as much to run as petrol or diesel vehicles, according to new data

Running an electric vehicle (EV) can cost more than 24p per mile, whereas a diesel car only 12.5p.

Charging an EV on the roadside with a rapid or ultra-quick device can cost up to 80p per kilowatt hour, according to statistics from the app ZapMap.

A typical electric car travels 3.3 miles for every kWh of electricity used, therefore rapid and ultra-rapid chargers currently cost the equivalent of 24.1p per mile, according to The Times’ estimates.

Slower chargers cost 16.4 pence per mile.

This is approximately double the average diesel car, which gets 43 miles per gallon and costs 12.5p per mile at present pricing. According to the data, the typical petrol car costs 14.5p per mile.

A repeat trip from London to Penzance will cost £148 in an electric car with rapid charges, compared to £77 in a diesel car and £89 in a petrol car, according to The Times.

It also said that at-home charging is much cheaper than a typical rapid charger, costing less than a third as much.

ZapMap discovered that costs at rapid chargers had risen by 5% in the last year, despite a 30% fall in the wholesale price of electricity.

This coincided with a fall in the price of oil.

Even drivers who use slower public chargers (the threshold is 50 Wh of power, allowing for a full recharge in about 30 minutes) pay more per mile than petrol and diesel drivers.

There was a 40 percent expansion in the quantity of quick or super fast charging stations across England, carrying the complete to more than 12,500.

Be that as it may, recent figures show sales of electric cars have fundamentally eased back.

They represent 17.2% of all new registrations starting from the start of 2024. This denotes a diminishing from the 18.7% high in the latter half of 2022.

As per analysis, fast and ultra-rapid chargers right now cost electric vehicle drivers what could be compared to 24.1p per mile, while more slow chargers cost what could be compared to 16.4p per mile.

Mike Hawes, CEO of the Society of Motor Manufacturers, told The Times, “It’s tough out there. Levels of demand are much, much softer.”

Electric car sales in Europe are performing even worse than in the UK, with figures showing registrations were somewhere around 44% in August.

At-home charging is ordinarily essentially less expensive than utilizing public points. However, over half of UK households live in terraces or flats, making it impossible for them to charge at home using a driveway or garage.

The AA has called on the government to align the current 20% VAT rate on charges with the 5% rate paid on at-home electricity.

Thom Groot, the founder of the Electric Car Scheme, stated, “We need to keep stimulating demand with incentives and supporting consumers in making the switch. The fact that people who charge at home pay less VAT than those who use public chargers is unfair.”

There is also pressure on the government to consider lowering VAT on electric car sales or exempting electric cars from a new “luxury car supplement”.

The addition pledges to increase the rate of road tax for cars costing more than £40,000. This is predicted to affect almost two-thirds of electric vehicles.