ADD IT UP BEFORE YOU PLUG IT IN
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, as drivers of electric cars found out this week. Ever since they were installed, it has been free to recharge your car battery at public ESB points across the country, but that all changes on the 18th of next month – and the fee is pretty hefty.
There are two models of payment – a simple pay-as-you-go (PAYG), with a kWh charge of
33c per unit, or a membership system whereby you pay a standard €5 a month and get each unit at the reduced cost of 29c.
That compares with around 20c per unit on a slower, overnight home wallbox charger, and maybe even less per unit if you enjoy special night-rate electricity.
KIA has been running the numbers based on charging its 64 kWh e-Niro from 20% to 80%, which would be fairly standard practice for owners of electric cars. On the PAYG plan, this would cost €12.67, or €4.64 per 100km driven, a saving of only €2.11 per 100km compared with diesel, but €4.06 compared with an equivalent petrol model.
If you were to pay the fiver subscription, the cost of charging would reduce to €11.13, a €2.67 saving over diesel and €4.62 over petrol. What that means is that you would have to recharge at least three times a month to beat the PAYG price. Bear in mind though that you can apply for membership at no cost at all for the first 12 months, so you could save €80.80 in the first year even if you recharged only once a week. The saving in the second year would be a more modest €20.80 when you deduct the €60 annual membership fee.
What this does is highlight the real benefit of using an AC wall charger at home. Instead of paying €4.64 per 100km driven, you pay only €2.81. Averaged out over a year, and based on annual trips totalling 20,000km, a home charger could save you a staggering €1,178 when compared with a petrol car with fuel efficiency of six litres per 100km.
What you have to take into account is the premium price you pay to buy an EV in the first place, and just how committed you are to environmental friendliness. The moral of the story is – do your sums!