So it’s going to work out cheaper to run petrol/diesel cars than it is electric

[RudsyFarmer]

My engineer DP predicted this exact scenario when he replaced our old petrol/diesel cars with newer petrol/diesel cars. Plus there is now a supply issue with batteries which is going to cause a huge issue down the line.

Honestly it’s a scandal that these new cars are hugely expensive. People have locked into lease/hire agreements that are costing a fortune per month and now running the bloody things are going to be exorbitant.

That does depend on the cars you're comparing though, mine costs me around £70 to fill up but can get 340 miles out of a tank if I drive carefully

Still no where near as cheap as electric but then it only cost me 5k to buy 4 years ago and I'll be keeping it as long as I can, at least 10 years in total

I'm getting about 420 miles from a tank of petrol that costs €80, so that works out almost the same as the electric car. The difference is that car costs £46k, where mine cost €2k a few months ago. I couldn't justify paying that.

You have to contact them - you can't switch online. It's a bit hidden! But then they send you a form to fill in. Rates are same as Octopus Go although you can choose to have five hours overnight for slightly more per unit.

No, YABVU - even with the price rises (and our tariff is green only so not subject to the price cap and hence, higher), and quite a lot of driving, it is still way cheaper to drive EV than petrol or diesel - plus wear and tear and servicing is minimal as so few moving parts!

@bellac11 I was trying to do the maths because I went for a hybrid recently (wanted a specific make of automatic that wasn't an SUV and it was the only one available).

Maybe someone could check my maths lol but:

£40 / 240 miles is 16p a mile for EV?

58mpg on mine so £1.67 x 3.785 = £6.32 per 58 miles.

58miles / £6.32 = 10p a mile?

In a top level flat so couldn't charge an EV here using those tariffs anyway and I guessed driving to the nearest lidl to charge would become impractical really quickly... so I thought I was settling for second best with the hybrid but (assuming the maths is correct) looks like that's actually best right now?

It cost me £1.73 to charge my large SUV EV last night. I added 23kWh and the battery size is 62kWh. I added about 35% charge and took the car to 80% charge which is 195-200 miles.

Do I want to return to my £130 a tank 7 seater MPV?? I don't think so!

What’s the difference in the cost of the car?

I think what OP is looking at is the cost of running the car (yes charging is cheaper!) including the monthly lease payments and the cost of buying it in the car. Plus the fact that it only has a range of 100 miles (up to 300 in perfect conditions) isn't very useful beyond commuting either.

Your maths are way out but your hybrid is still cheaper to run 🙂

There are 4.54 litres in a UK gallon so your cost for 58 miles is £7.58.

£7.58/58 is 13p a mile.

Hate to break it to you but there are many EVs which have a genuine range of far more than 100 miles.

Just been to France in ours. Did plenty of miles along motorways. Car's range was pretty accurate throughout.

So who is subsidising the EV tariff, and why do people who can afford and electric car need it?

This is the top and bottom of the situation. We can all go round saying things our husband's have proclaimed.

It reminds me of how small children talk to each other. My dad says.

Yes there is some resentment about this when the rest of us are paying 54p a unit for our domestic needs, someone who is already wealthy (by definition of being aable to afford an EV) is getting their transport costs hugely subsidised.

Not ok.

Maybe we could work out who has the most important husband or boyfriend and take their word as the final say.

Nobody is subsidising it

It has always been the same with electricity. The grid makes the same amount day and night, the amount it needs to mainly power peak times. It cannot regulate the amount made to only produce exactly what is needed at the time.

We waste huge amounts of electricity every day because it is being pumped out overnight when most people are barely using it.

EV charging is one fairly heavy duty thing that can use the electricity produced overnight so cheap overnight rates allow the electricity companies to actually sell the electricity rather than letting it go to waste.

But there are certain conditions attached (e.g. EV owner, only 4 hours of cheap rate usually something like 00:30 and 4:30, smart meter fitted so it can measure the amount used on different rates).

Er not everyone who has an EV has an EV tarrif

We got our EV last July, when we were halfway through our two year fixed deal with British Gas. So no EV tarrif.

Our fix ended a few months ago and the only fix that was then available to us did not include EV charging because it was at the point when the energy crisis was starting to kick off.

We took the fix, taking a gamble that it might be cheaper come October. Turns out we were right.

But, our 90kw car now costs us £30 to fully charge and for that we get 250 miles. So that's 12p a mile.

Our diesel costs around £90 to fill at current prices and for that we get 600 miles. That's 15p a mile.

OP's DH is not far off from being correct. EV charging tarrifs are pretty rare now.

Mines out of the running. He usually talks a load of rubbish!!

This had passed me by. I am actually struggling to comprehend this.
There will be people in cold damp houses unable to put the heating on, worrying about putting the kettle on and yet some people (with the above example of a 40k Mercedes or a 48k Polestar) get cheap electricity to run their car?

So who is paying for this cheap electricity? the poor sod with a prepayment meter probably

Your totally incorrect Op, We're in Ireland and at new rates works out at about €8.00 per charge ( even with the new charges) we both have free charging points at work though so will make sure we always charge there now.

My diesel bill per month was approx €300 so its definitely significantly cheaper. The cars are expensive though I do grant you which always strikes me as unfair as you get free tax, vrt etc but you can only avail of those things if you have enough money to buy a ev in the first place.

At the minute most people can't join EV tariffs. Unless they come back soon with EV premium (10k extra for an EV mini) over the life of a car petrol will still work out cheaper

Hello so it will end up going up, it isn't a fixed price?
I've tried to help someone get economy 7 (cheap overnight) but currently can't due to the crisis, so does that mean you can't get new EV tariffs?

The price will go up once the majority of people have them.

I just signed up to ours three days ago so Octopus are still allowing it, for existing customers anyway. It's a fixed rate for a year.

Definitely otherwise they will lose all he tax on petrol

The tax