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.

The prices I quoted above our for our current fix that we secured back in July at 36p per kWh. The price cap is going up to 51p (ish) in October.

So yes, anyone on the standard variable price cap tarrif will be paying even more than us. When we fixed in July there were no EV tarrifs available to us.

As more people's fixed deals end they will find themselves in similar circumstances so the idea that the general public are subsidising us EV owners is laughable.

Exactly ,it has always sat uncomfortably with me anyway that by definition the wealthy can afford to run a cheaper car, a car that doesnt have to worry about congestion charges and ulez requirements/tax, fuel duty etc etc

But it was bad enough at the old electric rates, now they have virtually doubled for those not on a fixed rate, its really unjustifiable, although as another poster says not everyone with an EV is on that sort of tarriff

But nevertheless, those who can well afford it, are obtaining very cheap fueling capacity compared to the average health care working on their knackered old car which is pricey to run, perhaps with high tax etc.

It doesnt affect me personally as we will be able to pay our fuel and petrol bills but we cant afford an EV.

A lot of judgy people on here.

Everyone I know with a full electric car....it's a company car.

Also, you can buy cheap 2nd hand electric cars now, they're not all 40k Tesla's...a second hand Zoe can be as little as 5k.

heycar.co.uk/renault/zoe

And why the hell shouldn't anyone who's bought one see a benefit to it anyway? Logic dictates they work for the money to purchase it, they've chosen it because it's cheaper to run, as stated earlier, national grid don't control the output of electricity - just at night it's usually wasted.

Also, this will be coming to everyone soon if NG have their way - each location will get a seperate "none peak" tariff which could even see rebates for using electricity at the none peak time, but then being charged full at whatever the peak time is in that location.

Its not a race to the bottom.

I see Hello I read the above post and assumed that it was just a fixed tariff for all EV users.

If these are only cheap because of fixing for a set time when energy prices were low then that is different, but if this is true there will be lots of cross people when their get to the end of the fixed term.

I predicted many years ago though, that ultimately the cost of electric has to go up for everyone to compensate for the time that EV cars make up the majority of fueling for car drivers.

The tax that would be lost on the cars and the petrol/diesel, has to be made up somewhere, which has to therefore go on electricity, which has to be across the board including domestic users.

That isnt what is driving this current increase of course but it will be part and parcel of the future.

I wouldnt have a problem with a night time tariff in every tariff, thats reasonable and then people can use it how they like, including charging their cars. But as another poster says, people are frightened to heat their own homes and cook and its not ok that people charging their cars up are paying less.

as little as 5k says it all.

You make a valid point

I take it your DP's expertise isn't in energy?

As soon as EV becomes the norm watch the tariffs shoot up! The government will tax to the hilt.

We've tried to look at these for my OH, the ones that are that cheap (and thats not many) wouldnt even get him to and from work in a day and he has no where to charge up during the day and is often driving around on house to house visits.

Plus you have to rent the battery for those ones. You have to go up hugely in price to get one that can deliver the range needed and not rent the battery separately

And ultimately its not a car he wants.

That’s interesting, we moved onto our EV tariff in August last year (a year ago to the week) on a 12 month fix 5p overnight and 15p in the day - the cheapest fix we could
find by far. We’ve just refixed this week at 7.5p overnight and I think 38p in the day, so
more expensive but not horrendous!

And the reason we need an EV tariff is we use SO much more electricity. The price caps are based on an average of 2,900 kWh per year, we’ve already used 5,500 kWh and it’s only August. We’re not that much more wealthy than the average joe. Although we are now saving £100+ p/m on fuel costs, so definitely cheaper than petrol was costing us…

If you fixed that this week, who is this with and would I be able to get this even though I dont have an EV?

Our electric use is about 5000k a year (units not price)

If there were no EV tariffs, I would charge my car at another time - 10am, 4pm, whenever I liked. The grid would still be producing the same amount overnight and that would predominately be wasted so the consumer must be paying for all that waste. Is that actually a better solution so EV drivers don't get the 'perk' that you perceive it to be?

When I fixed for my second year on Octopus Go (in April) the day rate and daily charge were higher than other non-EV rates available at that time. So in order to charge for less overnight, we pay a higher rate 4:30-00:30 - 20 hours a day - than I could have been. I can't say that I know whether the difference is as great currently but it was when we fixed.

It wouldn't be worth a non-EV driver having cheaper overnight and more expensive during the day because you wouldn't use enough electricity overnight to benefit. You would just be stuck paying a higher day rate.

I wouldnt be paying a higher day rate at all

Someone above posted that their day rate is 38p. Mine will be 54p, thats the current cap. They say they signed up to an EV tariff this week.

You make it sound like you're doing the country a favour by using up the wasted electricity produced at night!!

If there is waste that needs using up (this isnt really a concept), then everyone should be paying a cheaper night rate

It looks as if EV tariffs are still available at least via Octopus and EDF - is it definite that they don't exist any more?

Finding this thread quite odd - lots of people really seem to loathe EVs, why is that?

As far as high earnings go, the OP was talking about replacing vehicles so isn't on the breadline either. It's not illegal to have an income.

There have always been cheaper rates for tasks that use electricity overnight because usage is lower generally.

Very odd thread.

LOL at your 'engineer' DP 😂😂😂

Hm. No.

Fixed EV tariff, still got 24 mths. Costs peanuts to charge overnight.

Octopus Go is still available, but you have to phone them to switch, and I would do it quick before the day rate rises again. When I switched the day rate was above the current cap so I paid slightly more during the day to get a cheaper rate at night.
I don’t think of it as ‘subsidised’ by anyone - we are buying electricity when there is less demand for it (Octopus also offer a dynamic rate where the price changes throughout the day based on demand if that suits anyone else, I haven’t signed up because the peak rate is higher than what I pay now)

I'm not doing anybody a favour!! We all pay for the cost of the electricity produced in our tariffs but not all of that electricity is used. That is a fact.

They don't offer everybody cheap rates (at the moment!!) because most domestic users don't use enough electricity overnight. It's the same reason most have done away with Economy 7 tariffs, people's homes have changed.

But as somebody else pointed out, they might bring cheaper tariffs in for overnight use. It was discussed in the media a few weeks ago.

£4 to charge or £62 for petrol to travel the same distance …….mmmmm

I'm on holiday with my family and my sisters family. We got here on one charge which was £8 on the way here and will be £15 on the way home on a public charger.

My sister paid £83 for the same journey.

Apart from the costs of charging an EV. I would like to get one but was concerned about the range which is improving. I am bothered about cost and availability of tyres. They are stronger than ordinary ones because of the heavier weight therefore they are more expensive. Because of the weight I understand it is not possible to use a portable jack you need RAC or someone every time.
The biggest unknown though is the depreciation if buying outright. What will a 6 yr old EV be worth compared to it's new price.

We are with EDF and can't find any info on EV tariffs....it might be one we have to phone them for! I don't think Octopus are letting anyone switch to them at the moment!

Don't forget to factor in service costs - my liquid fuel car costs a lot now in regular servicing, my partner's EV costs nothing.

I'm useless at mending cars so would have to get the recovery team out every time anyway - I've had one puncture in 10 years though so the tyres aren't a huge issue.

Nobody can know what any car will be worth in 6 years time though. At the moment the used car market is crazy so I could sell my 18 month old EV with 20,000 miles on the clock for what I paid for it. All indications are that, at the moment, they're holding their value well. I've just found a 2014 Nissan Lead with a pretty poor range for current standards for £11k which doesn't help people trying to buy a used EV but certainly gives some peace of mind about resale values.