ELECTRIC CAR OWNERS CASH IN ON DRIVEWAYS
MOTORISTS without a driveway face paying up to £1,000 more each year to charge an electric car compared with those who have off-street parking.
The lack of a domestic charge-point means electric car owners will pay about £80 per month more to charge their vehicle at public charging points, according to electric car experts Electrifying.com.
With a third of drivers having no access to off-street parking, the disparity is creating a ‘two-tier nation’ of electric car owners, says the report.
Figures are based on a motorist driving a Volkswagen ID.3 for 10,000
miles per year. This would cost £13.75 per month when charging at home on a cheap night rate. That’s compared with £91.75 per month on a public charge point at 50p per kWh, which represents the typical rate for a DC rapid charger at service stations or supermarkets.
The report also argues that it makes electric car ownership less attractive to drivers living in smaller properties within cities ‘which is the very place zero emission vehicles can make the biggest difference to air quality’.
The report called for VAT on public charge points to be reduced from 20 per cent to 5 per cent to bring it in line with the cost of charging at home and for energy providers to introduce cheaper night tariffs at public charge points to help balance the supply grid.
Electrifying.com’s founder and CEO Ginny Buckley said: ‘As a country, we need to do better when it comes to the levelling up of electric car ownership.
‘If we want to bring everyone along on the electric journey, we need to ensure that the right infrastructure is in place — and at the right price.’