The cost of charging an electric car on the road has soared by nearly 60% in eight months, making the vehicles more costly to run on long journeys than petrol motors. Rapid charge points used by motorists topping up on long drives are now nearly £10 more expensive than filling up a car with petrol, analysis by motoring body the RAC revealed.
Alongside surging energy prices, a key reason behind the cost is that VAT is charged at 20% on public networks, compared to 5% for domestic energy use.
DB2
That is England where the Tip of Scotland to the coast of England is 600 miles. Not sure how that pertains to the rest of the world especially in the United States which does not have a Vat charge.
Andy
The UK has to generate electricity. The US and others may be supplying gasoline at lower prices. Meaning UK fossil fuel supply problems are the root of why this is happening. The problems wont last.
BTW DB2 does the article get into fossil fuel supplies to the UK? Or just yank your chain? I wont bother reading it. If that was said in the article I would not have linked it without stating as much for the readers here.
The size of the UK is not the important point. The higher tax rate for those who can’t charge at home is important. It certainly seems counterproductive for a government trying to promote EVs, especially since they are planning to ban the sale of ICE vehicles by 2030.
DB2
Ah ok, thanks DB2. Didn’t realize England was banning them. But the size is important because most of their travels, I would assume, are very short so they would be charging at home and not using the public networks.
Andy
It seems that only half of British homes have a garage. As ICE cars go away the charging issue will grow.
DB2
That is interesting DB2, wonder how the consumer will get around not having garages. Are we going to see extension cords running out of windows?
Andy
Our neighbor has a two-car garage that they have NEVER parked a car in. It is full of other stuff. So when oldest DS bought a Tesla (which he parks in the driveway) they had a charger/plug installed on the exterior wall of the garage in between the two garage doors.
'38Packard
One of my neighbors (with a 2-car garage mostly converted to living space) installed a locked box with a NEMA 14-50 outlet in it and he plugs in his mobile charger to charge his Tesla. Another neighbor has a Tesla wall charger installed on an outside wall near his driveway. I simply run the cable under the garage door (2-car garage filled with stuff, not cars) with a small piece of wood next to it to reduce crushing of the cable.
My sister in Arlington is doing that sort of extension cord plug in with her Tesla.