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.
Vauxhall Corsa-e EV (Image: TL/Tanjent)
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.
Read more: Independent on MSN
