How Much Does It Cost To Charge An Electric Car At Home: The Complete Guide

The majority of electric vehicles (EVs) are charged at home. Getting to know your electricity bill is more imperative today, than anytime in the past!

There is no doubt, in that, charging an electric car at home is more convenient than filling petrol at a fuel station. But that is not the only benefit of charging an electric vehicle (EV) at home. Home EV charging can result in significant financial savings, compared to filling petrol or diesel vehicles.

Fuel Price: The Escalation In The Cost Of Fuel Continues To Hurt The Family Wallet

According to the RAC Foundation, fuel prices have increased more than 45% between January 2016 and January 2022. Petrol prices have increased from 102 pence per litre in January 2016, to over 145 pence in January 2022. Diesel too has increased significantly during the same period, from 101 pence to 149 pence per litre. Sadly, we can continue to expect further increases in the cost of fuel at petrol pumps across the UK.

Filling a full tank of petrol or diesel can cost between £60 to £120. Put another way, the higher the price of petrol or diesel, the lower the amount of household income remaining to spend on other essential purchases! The bottom-line is that there is no way for consumers to safeguard themselves from the continued inflation in petrol prices, except, by migrating to electric cars, and in particular pure electric cars, also known as battery-electric vehicles (BEVs).

Electric Cars: The Basics

For those of you new to zero-emission electric driving, we recommend a read of the following articles:

EV Home Charging: Top Tips

Unfortunately, the increase in prices does not stop at fuel pumps. We have also witnessed an increase in residential energy prices in the UK, and we can also expect further increases in household energy prices. For those of you that have been discarding their energy bills without reading them thoroughly, STOP!

Now, more than ever, it is imperative that you understand your energy bill and consumption in detail. If in doubt, always call the energy supplier and seek the clarification. Despite the increase in electricity prices in the UK, a pure electric car, like the best-selling Tesla Model 3, will always be cheaper to recharge (refuel) compared to an internal combustion engine (ICE) petrol or diesel car. Moreover, the cost of driving an electric car per mile is between 3 pence and 5 pence. In comparison, the cost of running a petrol car can vary anywhere between 13 pence to 20 pence per mile! And this does not include the other costs of repair and servicing a petrol car. Yes, EVs are cheaper to maintain, simply because an electric car has far fewer moving parts!

A household that owns an electric car can expect an additional yearly consumption of 2,800 kWh added to their home energy bill. For some EVs with larger EV batteries and higher electric energy consumption per mile, the kWh consumed could be even higher. As a guide, in the UK, an average home consumes up to 4,000 kWh per year (kilowatt-hour is a measure of energy consumption) . So you can see that the increased consumption from the use of an electric car charging at home, is material!

Below are some helpful tips for EV owners to maximise their savings when charging their electric car at home:

• Install solar panels: it is ‘myth’ that solar panels don’t work in the UK, given the limited days of sunshine in the country. The truth could not be further from this false assertion. In fact, millions of home owners are already enjoying the benefits of generating and consuming clean energy at home, since the introduction of the solar incentives in 2010. Apart from the upfront cost of installing solar panels at home, in effect, you are generating free electricity. In the long-term the savings are significant for households, as they are not at the mercy of third party energy suppliers and ever-increasing energy prices! Also do keep in mind that by charging your electric car using green energy, you are actually achieving zero-tailpipe emission electric driving. To learn more about the best home EV chargers that are compatible with solar panels, simply follow this link.
• Battery storage: though battery storage is not a new concept, it is only in the recent past, that residential consumers have been leveraging this fantastic technology to save money on energy prices. By storing energy in the battery, the household can consumer power directly from the battery during peak hours i.e. the time period when grid supplied energy is the most expensive. Yes, the solar electricity generated on your rooftop can be stored in the home battery storage to use at anytime!
• For those of you, unable to take advantage of the virtuous ecosystem of ‘solar energy and battery storage’, we recommend you assess the energy plans from energy suppliers carefully. A number of energy suppliers now offer tailored EV electricity tariffs for households with electric vehicles. To learn more about these plans, simply follow this link! . We recommend charging an EV during off-peak hours (i.e. usually overnight) when the energy prices are lower.

Lastly, we strongly encourage EV owners not to use a standard domestic 3-PIN plug to charge an electric car. The best way to charge an electric car at home is by using a high quality dedicated home EV charger. We at e-zoomed have a fantastic range of home EV chargers, perfect for your home and EV! The average cost for the supply and installation of a dedicated home EV charger is between £500 and £1,000. The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) grant is now coming to an end (March 2022), so do take advantage while it is still available.

EV Home Charging: Costs

Your home electricity bill will include the kWh consumed by your household for the period of the bill. Though the price of electricity depends on the type of tariff and time of the day/ night, the average cost of electricity at home in the UK is 14.40 pence per kWh i.e. per unit of consumption. The average cost also varies depending on the region in the UK and the specific supplier. As a way of comparison, below are the charging costs for the best electric cars for 2022 (EV battery: 0% to 100%).

An easy way to calculate EV home charging costs, is simply to take the EV battery size and multiply by the electricity cost per kWh and then divide by 100. As an example, let’s assume the EV has a 64 kWh EV battery and the electricity tariff is 14.40 pence. Multiple (64kWh X 14.40p)/100 = £9.22. Really, quite as simple as that!