How much does your EV costs to charge?

[archie456]

Largechris said:

So more like £25 for 250 miles, or 10p per mile, which is pretty close to what a decently efficient diesel costs.

Personally I think that's a rip off and the government should be regulating to narrow the gap between domestic and service station prices.

Given that approx 50% of the cost of diesel is duty/tax, I’m sure the govt will narrow the gap, just not how you’d like it to happen. In 10 years time people will be wondering what happened to cheap electric motoring.

[SWoll]

Largechris said:

Gridserve, who are aiming to be the number one electric forecourt operator, currently charge 30p/kW

https://www.drivingelectric.com/charging/1181/comp...

So more like £25 for 250 miles, or 10p per mile, which is pretty close to what a decently efficient diesel costs.

Personally I think that's a rip off and the government should be regulating to narrow the gap between domestic and service station prices.

If I was going electric, I would be going the whole hog and powering off solar panels on my roof, removing all doubt about how the electricity was generated and eliminating uncertainty about future electricity prices.

it's an occasional cost, and you're also comparing a 3 mi/kWh EV to an efficient small diesel car.

The Model 3 performance with 500bhp will do an easy 3 miles/kW. How well does the new BMW M3 get on in comparison?

Our 400bhp SUV would cost £25 for 200 miles at Gridserve prices, or 12.5p per mile. A Q7 55 TFSI does 25MPG and would cost 36p per mile.

Edited by SWoll on Wednesday 8th December 19:03

[Largechris]

SWoll said:

Largechris said:

Gridserve, who are aiming to be the number one electric forecourt operator, currently charge 30p/kW

https://www.drivingelectric.com/charging/1181/comp...

So more like £25 for 250 miles, or 10p per mile, which is pretty close to what a decently efficient diesel costs.

Personally I think that's a rip off and the government should be regulating to narrow the gap between domestic and service station prices.

If I was going electric, I would be going the whole hog and powering off solar panels on my roof, removing all doubt about how the electricity was generated and eliminating uncertainty about future electricity prices.

it's an occasional cost, and you're also comparing a 3 mi/kWh EV to an efficient small diesel car.

The Model 3 performance with 500bhp will do an easy 3 miles/kW. How well does the new BMW M3 get on in comparison?

Our 400bhp SUV would cost £25 for 200 miles at Gridserve prices, or 12.5p per mile. A Q7 55 TFSI does 25MPG and would cost 36p per mile.

Edited by SWoll on Wednesday 8th December 19:03

The OP question was how much does it cost to charge an EV. That’s what I answered.

I apologise for not forseeing that the question you wanted answering was how does it compare to a Q7 55 TFSi.

And I’ve not suggested that electric fuel costs will stay cheap, rather the opposite. Hence my mentioning domestic solar.

[SWoll]

Largechris said:

The OP question was how much does it cost to charge an EV. That’s what I answered.

I apologise for not forseeing that the question you wanted answering was how does it compare to a Q7 55 TFSi.

And I’ve not suggested that electric fuel costs will stay cheap, rather the opposite. Hence my mentioning domestic solar.

You likened the cost per mile for a 3mi/kW EV to a 55MPG diesel and suggested it was a rip off. Just pointing out that is a fallacious statement as one is an inefficient rating and the other not.

I thought an example or two might help you to understand the above point, but apparently not?

[JonnyVTEC]

Largechris said:

Gridserve, who are aiming to be the number one electric forecourt operator, currently charge 30p/kW

https://www.drivingelectric.com/charging/1181/comp...

So more like £25 for 250 miles, or 10p per mile, which is pretty close to what a decently efficient diesel costs.

Personally I think that's a rip off and the government should be regulating to narrow the gap between domestic and service station prices.

If I was going electric, I would be going the whole hog and powering off solar panels on my roof, removing all doubt about how the electricity was generated and eliminating uncertainty about future electricity prices.

Narrow the gap? If there was legislation to track price closer to wholesale costs.

A) the prices would go up
B) less companies would invest to expand the infrastructure.

Edited by JonnyVTEC on Wednesday 8th December 21:19

[RobDickinson]

Petrol is what £1.40 or something a litre?

That gets you how far in an average moderately efficient car, 20km?


£1.40 of electricity at 12p per kwh would be 11.5 kwh, I'm getting about 7km per kwh on my model 3 so 80km or 4 times as far for the same cost.

[Europa Jon]

There's a lot of BS here about how cheap EVs are to charge. If somebody signs up to an electricity supply contract now, they can't get a unit for 5p. Besides, the Economy 7 type tariffs attract a higher than usual daytime rate. However, I can't comment on complicated Octopus-type deals.
Let's be honest: a unit of electricity is about 20p for most of us. This time of year, my smallish EV has a range of about 90 miles. The electricity cost for this is about £6.
Do I feel short-changed or mislead by the EV media? Absolutely not! The driving experience is so much better than ICE, and Is never go back.

[Jim on the hill]

Europa Jon said:

There's a lot of BS here about how cheap EVs are to charge. If somebody signs up to an electricity supply contract now, they can't get a unit for 5p. Besides, the Economy 7 type tariffs attract a higher than usual daytime rate. However, I can't comment on complicated Octopus-type deals.
Let's be honest: a unit of electricity is about 20p for most of us. This time of year, my smallish EV has a range of about 90 miles. The electricity cost for this is about £6.
Do I feel short-changed or mislead by the EV media? Absolutely not! The driving experience is so much better than ICE, and Is never go back.

Interesting. Which elements do you prefer over ICE? I've driven a hybrid and it was absolutely fine. Could definitely see me being happy with one of those. Haven't driven full electric yet.

[JonnyVTEC]

I didn’t know you had to have just signed up to an energy tarriff to be able to comment? No BS there.

Next it’s easy maths, now if EVs mean people actually are aware of energy that’s a good thing. Also chargers on cars are quite inefficient, so really factor 90% of the grid consumption getting into the cells.

[TheDeuce]

Europa Jon said:

There's a lot of BS here about how cheap EVs are to charge. If somebody signs up to an electricity supply contract now, they can't get a unit for 5p. Besides, the Economy 7 type tariffs attract a higher than usual daytime rate. However, I can't comment on complicated Octopus-type deals.
Let's be honest: a unit of electricity is about 20p for most of us. This time of year, my smallish EV has a range of about 90 miles. The electricity cost for this is about £6.
Do I feel short-changed or mislead by the EV media? Absolutely not! The driving experience is so much better than ICE, and Is never go back.

The octopus deal isn't that complicated and still available. But you're right, longer term it should be assumed that charging will come down to the general kWh rate.

But you're also right in saying that the short term benefits of EV aren't the only reason to have one. They're simply better cars. The current relatively high cost means that tax breaks and cheap electricity are a factor... But longer term, it's just plain better to have a car with a simple electric motor as opposed to the complexity of internal combustion.

The cost and source of the power are separate debates in my mind. What is clear is that EV is the natural progression after ICE.

[RobDickinson]

TheDeuce said:

But you're right, longer term it should be assumed that charging will come down to the general kWh rate.

Given the grid and focus on smart meters etc I disagree, I suspect the UK will be very time/supply conscious on electricity tariffs and ev charging , more so in the future.

[Knock_knock]

Europa Jon said:

If somebody signs up to an electricity supply contract now, they can't get a unit for 5p.

Yes you can.

Octopus Go is available now with 5p overnight rates still. The daytime rate is about "normal" if you were to change tho.

Nothing complicated about it.

[SWoll]

Jim on the hill said:

Europa Jon said:

There's a lot of BS here about how cheap EVs are to charge. If somebody signs up to an electricity supply contract now, they can't get a unit for 5p. Besides, the Economy 7 type tariffs attract a higher than usual daytime rate. However, I can't comment on complicated Octopus-type deals.
Let's be honest: a unit of electricity is about 20p for most of us. This time of year, my smallish EV has a range of about 90 miles. The electricity cost for this is about £6.
Do I feel short-changed or mislead by the EV media? Absolutely not! The driving experience is so much better than ICE, and Is never go back.

Interesting. Which elements do you prefer over ICE? I've driven a hybrid and it was absolutely fine. Could definitely see me being happy with one of those. Haven't driven full electric yet.

Quieter, smoother, more responsive, easier to operate etc. They make far better daily duty cars than ICE.

[TheDeuce]

RobDickinson said:

TheDeuce said:

But you're right, longer term it should be assumed that charging will come down to the general kWh rate.

Given the grid and focus on smart meters etc I disagree, I suspect the UK will be very time/supply conscious on electricity tariffs and ev charging , more so in the future.

I was genarlising to make another point.. but I actually do expect that for grid balancing reasons, there will be a small incentive to keep charging at night.

I just doubt that the current 5p per kWh rates will remain for very long..

[dave01253]

The problem I find with off peak tariffs is that the day rate is a rip off in order to pay for the night! I'm currently on 16.18p a unit (24hrs) and 7p a day standing charge. Its a fixed deal that unfortunately ends in about 6 weeks. The cheapest we found works out at about 45 pound a month more (for gas and elec).

Also, the KWh rating of a battery isn't a true 1:1 with mains electricity. I mean my 64kwh battery takes a bit more than 64kw to fill from AC. It's not massively more, maybe 10% or something. I need to investigate it further.

[Evanivitch]

Mr Miata said:

I heard a rumour that one guy at work got caught dangling the granny lead out the window to charge his EV. Think the company sacked him and were trying to prosecute for fraud / theft.

The company probably wondered why their electricity bill went up. It wouldnt surprise me if they were on a rubbish tariff

Someone using a granny charger at 2.3kW for say 10 hours a day was stealing 23kWh. At 15p/kWh that's £3.45 day.

I'd be surprised if he's working 10 hours a day and driving nearly 100 miles a day, and I'd be surprised if most businesses would notice £70 on their monthly electricity bill.

I'm not excusing the person. It's a stupid crime to commit.

[martynr]

Largechris said:

Gridserve, who are aiming to be the number one electric forecourt operator, currently charge 30p/kW

https://www.drivingelectric.com/charging/1181/comp...

So more like £25 for 250 miles, or 10p per mile, which is pretty close to what a decently efficient diesel costs.

Personally I think that's a rip off and the government should be regulating to narrow the gap between domestic and service station prices.

If I was going electric, I would be going the whole hog and powering off solar panels on my roof, removing all doubt about how the electricity was generated and eliminating uncertainty about future electricity prices.

I think you would need to have a farm on the roof in order to charge any EV and teleport yourself to Spain.

[martynr]

Europa Jon said:

There's a lot of BS here about how cheap EVs are to charge. If somebody signs up to an electricity supply contract now, they can't get a unit for 5p. Besides, the Economy 7 type tariffs attract a higher than usual daytime rate. However, I can't comment on complicated Octopus-type deals.
Let's be honest: a unit of electricity is about 20p for most of us. This time of year, my smallish EV has a range of about 90 miles. The electricity cost for this is about £6.
Do I feel short-changed or mislead by the EV media? Absolutely not! The driving experience is so much better than ICE, and Is never go back.

Here was me thinking of spending 50p on a charge and driving for months since every Tesla has the range only to increase.

[Largechris]

martynr said:

Largechris said:

Gridserve, who are aiming to be the number one electric forecourt operator, currently charge 30p/kW

https://www.drivingelectric.com/charging/1181/comp...

So more like £25 for 250 miles, or 10p per mile, which is pretty close to what a decently efficient diesel costs.

Personally I think that's a rip off and the government should be regulating to narrow the gap between domestic and service station prices.

If I was going electric, I would be going the whole hog and powering off solar panels on my roof, removing all doubt about how the electricity was generated and eliminating uncertainty about future electricity prices.

I think you would need to have a farm on the roof in order to charge any EV and teleport yourself to Spain.

Not at all. The maths is quite easy:

A 1kW system with four panels taking up eight square metres is estimated to generate 850kWh of energy output a year: that would fully charge the new Honda e 24 times over, which translates into some 3,250 miles of driving range.

That's pretty tiny by UK domestic install standards, a 4 person household would typically use at least 16 panels for 4000kWh of domestic useage.

In other words each square metre of solar panel installed would get you 400 miles of range per year IF you are either charging the car directly when the panels are working, or more likely are using a Powerwall to store the electricity and charge overnight.

I assume your Spain reference is in relation to the amount of sun available, however a point not often appreciated is that most common solar cell chemistry become noticeably less efficient in higher temperatures -

Solar panels are power tested at 25C, so the temperature coefficient percentage illustrates the change in efficiency as it goes up or down by a degree. For example if the temperature coefficient of a particular type of panel is -0.5%, then for every 1C rise, the panels maximum power will reduce by 0.5%.

So on a hot day, when panel temperatures may reach 45C, a panel with a temperature coefficient of -0.5% would result in a maximum power output reduction of 10%. Conversely, if it was a sunny winter’s morning, the panels will actually be more efficient.

Hope this helps.

Edited by Largechris on Thursday 9th December 11:02

[JonnyVTEC]

You would still want the panels in Spain…