With more road users buying and leasing electric and hybrid vehicles than ever before, the reported environmental and financial benefits of driving an EV car have been the driving factor in their increasing popularity. However, record-breaking inflation of fuel and energy costs across the globe, increased consumer demand, expensive production costs and supply chain issues have led to a spike in the pricing of EV batteries and vehicle charging costs.
EV drivers are not safe from increasing travel costs
On average, home EV charging costs less than half the amount that it takes to fill a 47-litre petrol tank (typically around £41 per EV charge for equivalent milage). Combined with much-publicised and rapidly rising fuel costs, this has encouraged many traditional car users to make the switch to hybrid or electric vehicles, with over a third of new dealership sales in the UK being EVs. Despite the fact that EV drivers may face considerably lower running costs than those using petrol or diesel, they are still vulnerable to rising fuel, battery and charging prices. Recently, the cost of rapid charging your electric vehicle at a pay-as-you-go outlet in the United Kingdom has risen by a whopping 21% to 44.5p per kWh, which works out at around 10p per mile – but what has caused this big increase, and is pricing likely to stabilise?
What’s increasing the cost at the charging points?
To put it simply, the increase in price of EV charging in the UK is a direct result of rocketing international wholesale fuel and energy costs, in part exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine and an increase in demand. So far, the UK has seen an energy cap price rise of 54% and a 5x rise in gas prices. This increase has hit homeowners in the UK with average home charging tariffs costing in excess of 35p per kWh. Another key point is that EV batteries are expensive to produce (which is why EV vehicles often cost thousands more to buy than their petrol or diesel counterparts), although battery pricing is likely to fall by 2025. While wholesale energy costs will also likely peak and stabilise in the near future, EV vehicle owners are advised to take advantage of cheaper overnight electricity rates and charge their cars at home, which is around 46% cheaper than charging on the move. It’s also worth noting that pricing can vary between charging points based on location and type – for instance, the mileage generated by an ultra-rapid charger would cost approximately 14% more than that when using a standard roadside rapid charger. The relative inaccessibility of charging stations in the UK seems to be another reason why EV drivers could be missing out.
