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As I write this, the average UK petrol price, according to RAC data, is 140.6p per litre, with diesel at 159.18p per litre. Most analysts expect those prices to rise in the coming days and weeks.
Meanwhile, looking at the UK’s biggest home energy provider, Octopus Energy (whose CEO Greg Jackson I interviewed recently), you can charge your electric car at home for 8p per kWh.
Doing some quick maths: if you have a petrol car that averages 40mpg – and that’s being generous – it will cost you £15.97 to drive 100 miles.
If you have an EV that averages 3.5 miles per kWh – and that’s being conservative – covering the same distance will cost you £2.29. That’s around seven times cheaper than a petrol car.
According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2024 we drove – on average – 7,100 miles a year, down 2,000 miles from what we used to drive in 2004. Taking that mileage into account, you’ll pay £1,134 a year on fuel in a petrol car at the current rate, but just £162 a year if you charge your EV solely at home on a low-rate tariff like Octopus’s. By any stretch of the imagination, that’s quite a saving.
Servicing costs will also be cheaper in an EV, with Tesla saying that no routine maintenance is required in its cars over the three-year period you might finance one.
Insurance is one area where you may still pay a bit more for an EV than a petrol car, but that’s unlikely to offset the savings elsewhere.
Meanwhile, as the Independent EV Price Index showed last year, EV prices have come down dramatically and continue to fall. Cut-price EVs are now commonplace, with many costing the same as an equivalent petrol car. A new Vauxhall Frontera Electric is cheaper than an equivalent hybrid model, while the government’s electric car grant offers discounts of either £3,750 or £1,500 on a new EV and currently applies to 48 models.
Government targets for the sale of zero-emission vehicles mean the deals on offer are as good as they’ve ever been, especially if you want to lease your new car. As always, the advice is to shop around for the best deal.
And if you’re worried about public charging, according to Zap-Map there were 118,321 EV chargers across 89,842 devices at 45,561 charging locations around the UK – with the equivalent of a new charging point going live every 30 minutes.
There are numerous grants available for charging points too, while local councils are encouraging homeowners without off-street parking to safely fit cross-pavement gullies if they have access to suitable parking outside their homes.
Electric cars just keep getting better, too – in terms of range, efficiency, comfort, convenience and technology. They’re really good to drive as well: quiet, comfortable, easy to live with and fun.
Of course, an EV might still not be right for everyone, which is why plug-in hybrids are proving so popular. They give people a taste of electric driving – with some offering close to 100 miles of EV range – while the petrol engine provides back-up if you need to drive long distances without stopping. It’s no surprise PHEV sales were up 35 per cent last year.
One thing I always remind people is that not everyone has to buy an EV right now. This year, the government wants a third of all new cars sold to be fully electric. That means two-thirds don’t have to be.
But my advice is to think about it properly and have a go in one. I’ve been a petrolhead all my life, and now our main family car – and my wife’s – is an EV. With the numbers stacking up so well right now, there really hasn’t been a better time to buy an electric car.
As always, I’m here to answer your electric car questions – just click here to drop me an email and I’ll answer your question in a future DriveSmart newsletter.
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