The UK’s Public Charging Network Saves Drivers Money - But an Ambitious ZEV Mandate is Crucial to Unlocking its Full Potential

Figures for new electric vehicle (EV) registrations for December 2022 were historic; just under 34% of all new car sales were for an electric vehicle. This meant electrics share of the market was more than 10 percentage points higher than that of hybrid cars (23%), more than 5 times higher than that of diesel cars (6%), and only three percentage points lower than petrol vehicles market share (37%).

These figures capped a strong year for the UK’s transition to electric vehicles. Just under 17% of all new cars registered in the UK over the course of 2022 were fully electric, and the first 6 months of the year saw more EVs registered than over the whole of 2020. Despite this, late December and early January saw a raft of negative headlines around EVs. Much of this discourse centered on concerns around the UK’s public EV charging network.

Money, Money, Money: The Cost of Charging via the Public Network

The cost of charging via the public network was the subject of much discussion over the aforementioned period, with some commentators making the bold claim that electric cars are now more expensive than fossil fueled vehicles over long journeys.

According to our calculations, this claim is inaccurate. It’s very rare that driving in an electric car on a long journey will cost more than doing the same mileage in a petrol or diesel - the details referred to in the article in which this claim was made simply do not represent the actual everyday reality of owning an electric car. It is well established that the vast majority of EV owners charge their car at home. According to our Cost Per Mile Comparison Tool, an EV charged at home via a standard variable tariff is up to 16.5% cheaper per mile to run than an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. Charging at home via an EV energy tariff saves drivers even more - it can be up to 49% cheaper than running an ICE car.

Additionally, New AutoMotive have calculated that an electric car is cheaper per mile than a petrol car whenever it is charged at 69p per kWh - and around 70% of all public chargers in the UK are below this price. The average cost of charging via Podpoint (47p/kWh), Chargeplace Scotland (30p/kWh), Ubitricty (42p/kWh), and BpPulse (52p/kWh), collectively the four largest public providers in the UK, all fall well below this figure, meaning the majority of their charge points offer significant running cost savings to motorists compared to petrol vehicles. This means that an EV charged solely via a public charger is, more often than not, cheaper to run than a petrol car - regardless of the length of the journey.

Using a mixture of home charging as well as fast and slow public chargers also works out significantly cheaper annually than an ICE car. This is even if the vast majority takes place on a fast public charger (often the most expensive form of charging available). A driver who, over the course of the year, drives 6000 miles and charges their vehicle via a night time home tariff (26p/kWh) for 5% of the time; a day time home tariff (35p/kWh) 10% of the time; a free public tariff (0p/kWh) 5% of the time; and a public fast charger tariff (40p/kWh) 80% of the time would pay £626 a year on charging their EV. A driver who did the same mileage in a comparative ICE car would pay £947 a year on fuel - making electric the significantly cheaper option.

Setting the Pace: The Expansion of the Public Charging Network

In addition to criticisms around the cost of public charging, there have recently been a swathe of negative headlines around the availability of public chargers and the rate at which new charging infrastructure is being rolled out. Some commentators have recently asserted that the government is on track to miss its goal of having at least 300,000 available public charge points by 2030.

New AutoMotive have today released a new report on the UK’s EV charging infrastructure industry. The report, titled “On the Road to 2030: How the electric vehicle charging industry will enable the phase-out of petrol and diesel vehicles in the UK”, used quantitative and qualitative research methods, including a survey of industry stakeholders and analysis of publicly available data from a variety of sources, to provide a comprehensive snapshot of the UK’s charging network and the industry that supports it.

The conclusions of the report are reassuring. It has found that, despite some obvious teething problems, the UK’s charging infrastructure industry is currently on track to meet the 2030 target. The public charging network is growing at an exponential rate, expanding by around a third every 12 months - see the graph below. If it can continue to grow at this rate, the government’s target will be met in 2030. 

Graph 1: Current and Trend Public EV Charging Installation

Climbing Cliffs: Overcoming Barriers to Network Growth

Whilst the report determined the current rate of network growth is adequate, it also identified a number of barriers to the more rapid growth of the public network and the EV charging infrastructure sector more broadly. Some of the barriers identified included uncertainty within industry around future regulations, gaining planning permission for new chargepoint locations and the cost of upgrading existing local electricity connections to support higher usage.

The most pressing barrier to growth identified by the industry stakeholders surveyed as part of the report was a lack of demand for public charging, and uncertainty around levels of demand in the future. If the government can assist industry in overcoming this barrier, it will help facilitate the UK’s public charging network expanding at a more rapid pace.

The forthcoming ZEV mandate is the government’s most effective means of addressing this barrier; it should drive EV uptake by ensuring the supply of electric cars meets demand, and thus providing the EV charging infrastructure industry with certainty around future demand for public charge points. This certainty will go a long way to helping to ensure that the UK’s public charging network continues to expand at pace.

More EVs on the road will not just help drive the rollout of more public charging infrastructure. It will also mean more British motorists benefitting from the running-cost savings electric cars offer compared to petrol and diesel cars. The simple fact is that EVs save drivers money - whether they are charged at home or via the public charging network. In the midst of a generational cost-of-living crisis, these savings have never been more important to motorists.

Given this, It is essential they are made accessible to all.