Category Archives: Charging

Does It Cost More To Run An EV Or An ICE?

November 17, 2022Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Along with the environmental benefits, one of the main advantages of owning an electric vehicle (EV) is their relatively low running costs.

Charging a battery is much more affordable than filling a tank, and EVs are often more reliable than petrol and diesel cars since they have fewer moving parts that can fail.

However, a single tank of fuel will take you much further than even the most efficient EV battery. Add to that the jump in electricity prices that took place on 1 October, and you may need to consider the cost of owning an EV more carefully.

How much does it cost to charge an EV?

The price of charging an EV depends on where you do it.

At home

Charging an EV at home is usually the most cost effective option. You can charge the car using a domestic three-pin socket, but installing a dedicated EV charger will deliver power much more quickly.

Installing an at-home EV charging point typically costs around £1,000.

With the government’s Energy Price Guarantee capping the cost of electricity at 34 pence per KWh in October 2022 (until April 2023), fully charging an EV at home will cost:

£12.51 to fully charge a small EV (VW e-Up!)
£13.60 to fully charge a medium sized EV (Nissan Leaf)
£24.14 to fully charge a large EV (Audi e-tron)

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What is electric car preconditioning and why does it matter?

November 11, 2022Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

Preconditioning is one of the lesser-known but brilliantly useful features of electric cars. On both cold winter days and hot summer days, you can benefit from it.

Put simply, preconditioning allows you to pre-heat or pre-cool the car’s cabin before you start your journey. Not only will you feel more comfortable, you’ll maximise the car’s driving range and prolong the life of its battery.

It’s a win-win-win situation, in other words.

How does preconditioning work?

Preconditioning can be activated via the car’s infotainment system or a connected smartphone app. By scheduling your daily departure times, the car will heat or cool its interior to optimum temperature – you just climb in and go.

Crucially, when the car is plugged in, electricity is drawn from the mains and not the car, so this has no impact on driving range. You start your journey with a full battery.

Also, because the car’s windows will be free of mist and ice when you enter the cabin, you won’t waste time waiting to clear or defrost them.

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Electric cars are ‘much cheaper’ to run compared to petrol and diesel – ‘key benefits’

November 1, 2022Buying/Leasing, Charging, Electric CarsRepost

Electric cars can be half as cheap to run as petrol or diesel vehicles, according to new data.

Drivers charging at home on electric vehicle (EV) tariff save just over 56 percent compared to petrol or diesel per-mile costs. They are nearly a quarter cheaper (24 percent) for those who charge at home on a standard energy tariff.

The data, from New Automotive, found that electric vehicles are now more than half as cheap to run than a petrol or diesel vehicle when charged at home on a dedicated EV energy tariff.

The organisation has launched a fuel cost tracker to measure car running costs.

Renault ZOE in contactless car vending machine (Image: Taylor Herring)

It found that home-charged electric cars can be more than half as cheap as petrol and diesel.

It converts the latest available energy prices into a cost-per-mile figure and compares the difference in running costs between fuel types in an interactive chart.

Energy prices rises have made it harder to monitor changes to the relative running cost of petrol, diesel and electric cars – but the tracker solves this problem.

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Demystifying the switch to EVs: the key considerations when buying an EV

October 31, 2022Charging, Electric Cars, OpinionRepost

Electric vehicle drivers are missing out. This is according to a recent European study conducted by Delta-EE which discovered that:

42% of electric vehicle (EV) drivers are not on the best charging tariffs for their vehicles because they are not using a dedicated home charging point to charge their car
Less than 50% of people have a time-of-use tariff, enabling them to take advantage of cheaper overnight electricity prices, and
Just three in 10 EV owners have a specific EV tariff with their energy provider

The research points to significant missed opportunities in engaging new EV owners in smart charging and maximising their car’s potential to cut their costs and carbon emissions. By charging their vehicle through a smart domestic charger able to optimise charging to times of low demand when energy is cheapest and greenest, customers can not only save on their energy bills but reduce their carbon footprint.

In fact, if a customer buys an EV and home charger they typically reduce their car running costs by ~50% and triple their CO2 savings per kilometre. Add smart charging or bidirectional vehicle-to-grid technology and emissions can be decreased by a further 30% with customers able to actually earn money – up to £800 a year – for importing cheap energy and selling it back to the grid. At scale, this technology can accelerate the energy transition by increasing the use of renewable power and preventing fossil fuel backup generation to be switched on at peak times, and do so in an affordable way for customers.

Read more: Current+

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The American EV boom is about to begin. Does the US have the power to charge it?

October 19, 2022Buying/Leasing, Charging, Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, OpinionRepost

States have plans to ban gas-powered cars and the White House wants chargers along highways, but implementation is a challenge

Speaking in front of a line of the latest electric vehicles (EVs) at this month’s North American International Auto Show, President Joe Biden declared: “The great American road trip is going to be fully electrified.”

Most vehicles on the road are still gas guzzlers, but Washington is betting big on change, hoping that major federal investment will help reach a target set by the White House for 50% of new cars to be electric by 2030. But there are roadblocks – specifically when it comes to charging them all. “Range anxiety,” or how far one can travel before needing to charge, is still cited as a major deterrent for potential EV buyers.

The welcoming entrance of Disney’s magic kingdom (Image: L. Larkum)

The auto industry recently passed the 5% mark of EV market share – a watershed moment, analysts say, before rapid growth. New policies at the state and local level could very well spur that growth: the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed this summer, offers tax credits of $4,000 to purchase a used EV and up to $7,500 for certain new ones. In August, California, the nation’s largest state and economy, announced rules that would ban all new gas-powered cars by 2035. New York plans to follow.

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£1 million funding to support development of EV chargers across five Midlands areas

September 13, 2022Away From Home, Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Five local authorities in the Midlands are set to install electric vehicle (EV) chargers in areas with limited off-street parking, courtesy of almost £1 million in government funding.

The bid, launched in June 2022, aims to deliver “hundreds” of new EV charging sites across the Midlands in order to support the integration of clean vehicles to the UK’s roads. This comes with the impending internal combustion engine ban coming into force from 2030.

Lincolnshire County Council, Herefordshire Council, Leicestershire County Council, Rutland County Council, and Stoke-on-Trent City Council – alongside Sub-National Transport Body Midlands Connect, submitted the bid resulting in a share of £935,355 set to be distributed between the five councils.

“I’m delighted that this successful bid means that we will be able to offer more electric charging facilities across the county which will support our residents and business to make the shift to ultra-low emission vehicles as part our strong commitment to addressing the climate and ecological emergency,” said Councillor John Harrington, cabinet member for infrastructure and transport.

Read more: Current+

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Osprey to develop ultra-fast EV charging hubs for 12 British Garden Centres

September 12, 2022Away From Home, Charging, Charging, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Osprey Charging has partnered with British Garden Centres in order to add ultra-rapid charging hubs for electric vehicles (EVs) at 12 stores across the UK.

The ultra-rapid charging hubs are said to be capable of adding 100 miles of range in 20-30 minutes for EVs, with the first set to be established in a Carmarthen store in Wales. This will include eight ultra-rapid (159kW) chargers and is set to open later this year.

Further hubs will be developed across UK garden centres including Wimborne (Dorset), Carr Gate (Yorkshire), Braintree (Essex) and Harrow (London). A total of 12 sites have been confirmed with a mix of these larger hubs and some smaller installations depending on the size of the site and availability of power.

“The British Garden Centres name is synonymous with first-class customer experience, and we’re delighted to provide safe, reliable, and accessible charging at their UK stores,” said Ian Johnston, CEO of Osprey Charging.

“We look forward to a fruitful partnership as we work together to offer EV charging at more of its centres up and down the country.”

Read more: Current+

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Comment: Connecting EV batteries to the grid is key to solving energy crisis

September 8, 2022Charging, Energy and Climate Change, Energy Storage, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

To solve the energy crisis and green the grid, we need to massively ramp up battery storage to help power the national and international grid; the successful trials of ‘Vehicle to Grid’ technology proves that electric vehicles could do just that, argues Aidan McClean, CEO of UFODrive.

Through charging the vehicle during periods of low energy cost, such as at night, and powering the national grid or home during periods of high cost, users reduced energy costs by at least 40%, some to zero.

Furthermore, charging the car during periods of high renewables generation and powering the home during fossil fuel generation (when renewable sources aren’t producing) allowed for reductions in carbon emissions of at least 25%, with some achieving 100% when timed correctly.

59210374 – beautiful isometric design of energy efficient house using renewable energy and home energy storage

At a similar time, an Open Letter to the European Commission was penned by major market leaders in battery storage technologies. It argued that Europe’s net zero, geopolitically independent energy goals, summed up in the REpowerEU plan, require a huge increase in battery storage infrastructure.

This letter argues that a renewable-powered grid needs a backup energy source when the sun isn’t shining or the wind blowing. Traditionally, this may have been gas, but this is now clearly not feasible due to the EU’s over-reliance on Russian gas supplies.

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Electric car charging points: Why 1,000 new chargers probably still aren’t enough for all the EVs in the UK

September 6, 2022Away From Home, Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and CommentRepost

Charge points will be built in nine local authorities across England but the rising use of EVs might outpace the installation of chargers

Drivers will have access to more than 1,000 new on-street charging points for their electric vehicles thanks to a £20m pilot scheme unveiled by the Government today.

BP Chargemaster Rapid Charger at Milton Keynes Charging Hub (Image: T. Larkum)

Charge points will be built in nine local authorities across England including Durham, Dorset, Kent, Lincolnshire, Barnet, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk, and Warrington.

The pilot comes as the number of electric vehicles on the road keeps soaring, and amid warnings of major gaps across the country after figures showed local governments were failing to make use of government funds to boost residential charging infrastructure.

Ministers said the new scheme was aimed particularly at those without off-street parking who cannot charge their electric car at home, as well as at drivers needing a quick charge while travelling.

Trudy Harrison, transport minister, said: “We want to expand and grow our world-leading network of EV charge points, working closely with industry and local government, making it even easier for those without driveways to charge their electric vehicles and support the switch to cleaner travel.”

AA president, Edmund King, said it was “essential” that more on-street chargers were delivered, adding: “This is one further positive step on the road to electrification.”

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Europe’s ‘most powerful’ EV charging hub opens in Oxford

July 20, 2022Away From Home, Charging, Charging, Electric Cars, Energy Storage, News, Reviews and Comment, UncategorizedRepost

Pivot Power has opened Europe’s “most powerful” electric vehicle (EV) charging hub in Oxford, with 42 fast and ultra-rapid chargers.

As part of the Energy Superhub Oxford project, the hub located at Redbridge Park and Ride could scale up to provide charging for 400 vehicles as EV adoption increases.

It will be entirely powered with renewable energy, with 10MW of installed capacity on-site.

“Electric vehicles form a key part of our strategy to decarbonise transport, so I’m pleased to see Europe’s most powerful EV charging hub opening in Oxford,” said Trudy Harrison MP, transport decarbonisation minister.

“Both the Government and industry, working together, are investing billions in projects like this to help provide the infrastructure to support the UK’s electric revolution and soaring EV sales. This in turn will help us decarbonise transport, create high-skilled jobs, and provide cleaner air across the UK.”

Several providers installed chargers at the facility, which has been developed by EDF Renewables subsidiary Pivot Power with the participation of the Oxford City Council, including 10 300kW charging bays from Fastned, 20 7-22kW from Wenea and 12 250kW Tesla Superchargers.

Read more: Current+

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