A lot of times the question arises about whether charging an electric vehicle is cheaper than gas or not? And the answer is yes it is! However, is it worth it? How much cheaper is it?
Reading Time: 3 minutesThis can be calculated by easy math. Firstly, you need to know how much you pay for electricity. In specific, how much do you pay for every kilowatt-hour of electricity being used?
In the UK, on average you pay around 14p for one kWh.
John Voelcker is an automotive journalist who said “A conservative rule of thumb is ghat an electric car gets 3 to 4 miles per kWh.” So according to this why you is more down the total number of miles you travel in a month and then divide the number by 3, this will give you how much kWh your car uses during the month. You will then multiply the number you get by the price of kWh at that time. The number you get as a result of this will be the cost of charging your electric vehicle.
By doing all this, it’ll be visible that it is indeed cheaper than the gasoline cost.
Let’s look at this through an example to make it easier to understand, let’s assume you travel 600 miles during a month. This means that you will be using 200 kWh in that month. By using 14p per kWh you will be paying £28 for charging your vehicle.
Comparing this to a fuel fill-up
The average cost of fuel these days is 135p. It takes around about 30 gallons to travel 600 miles. By calculating how much cost you’ll pay for 30 gallons, you get an estimated value of £40.5 which is of course, more expensive than the amount you were paying for charging your electric vehicle.
Keep in mind that all these values are estimates as the price of fuel and electricity varies often.
Charging an EV at home
The rates of electricity vary from place to place but also vary at different times of the day. In most areas, the rate is lower at night so if you want to save money, you can charge your car at night.
Charging your vehicle at home is one of the cheapest ways and time-efficient as well.
When you talk about level 2 or 3 fast charging, the price obviously increases. Although, it will still be cheaper to charge at level 2 at home. However, for this, you’ll need to install a level 2 charger in your garage which is very costly and installation can be expensive too. Though, this in the future will increase the ballpark price of your house and also charge your car in half the time as it would take without one.
One thing you’ve to keep in mind when you’re charging with a level 2 charger, the cost of electricity will also be higher and more electricity will also be used.
Even though you could always opt for charging at public charging stations, it is best for you to charge at home stress-free, staying on budget and saving time all along.
