Charging methods explained

Charging at home

Charging at home is a convenient way to top up your car, simply plug into a socket or home wall box to charge your car.

This will use your electricity, so switching to an EV specific tariff can help reduce the cost of charging at home by offering you lower rates for electricity at particular times at night. Our partner Octopus Energy can help you switch to an EV tariff which uses only renewable energy.

Charging at work

As volumes of electric cars grow, more and more employers now offer staff the ability to charge their vehicles at work. This is often free to use and there is no requirement for this to be classed as a benefit in kind so there are no taxation implications for those using them.

Charging at public locations

Public charging is growing with more locations such as supermarkets and service stations offering electric drivers places to charge. It offers convenient options to top up on the go and a growing network offering free charging to customers when shopping or parking. Paying for public charging can vary from using cards or apps, that can require account creation, to payments at the charging unit. Some offer a subscription that includes a fee in exchange for cheaper per kWh rate or monthly bill.

Rapid charging

If you are looking to quickly charge your vehicle then public rapid or superfast charging may be the one for you. This uses direct current (DC) to quickly add power to your battery meaning most electric vehicles can get to 80% full in less than an hour dependent on the maximum charge your vehicle can take. DC points are more likely to be found in service stations and on major motorway networks and operate in a similar way to other public charging points in regards to payment and usage.

How to calculate the cost to charge an electric car

To work out how much it costs to charge your car times the cost of a kWh by the amount of kWh you need - the Enyaq 60 with a 58kWh battery costs roughly £12 for a full charge**. Costs across providers vary and depend on whether its AC/DC - some may charge a connection fee. The Enyaq 80 helps give you the cost per kWh for each charge point.

Electric cars vs petrol or diesel cars

There are a number of differences between electric and petrol or diesel cars. One of the key benefits is the cost to fill up.

With the average UK electricity price sitting at around 18p per kWh and if you assume an electric car will travel 3.5 miles per kWh on average, to travel 100 miles would cost around £5*.

However, a petrol car would cost around £12 if fuel costs were at £1.46 per litre and we assume the UK’s average new car fuel consumption in 2021 was 52.6 miles-pergallon for petrol cars**. If you have a cheaper fixed tariff, then it's likely the cost to fill up your electric car will be cheaper still.

The above is only an indication and depending on where you live, the prices you pay for both electricity and fuel and the vehicle you own may increase or decrease these savings.

Petrol and Diesel cars have to pay £15 for congestion charge each day they go into London, however electric cars are exempt from this charge, thus the savings on congestion charge could go towards the cost of charging an electric car.

Discover more

Home charging

Find out all the information you need to know about charging an electric car at home.

Octopus Energy

We’ve partnered with Octopus Energy to offer £90 of charging credit to new and existing customers who switch to a dual fuel home energy supply.