EV Cost using public chargers

[biggbn]

Be gentle guys, absolutely no idea about some of the terminology used when EV aficionados talk about efficency so could I ask a simple question and seek an answer in simple terms. Taking a common 'city/short commuter' car, say an electric Mini or a BMW i3, what does it cost to cover say an arbitrary figure of 100 miles if using public chargers?

I am very interested in EVs, but only have on street parking so would have to use town, supermarket or filling station chargers. I currently drive a mini that will return the best part of 100 miles for a tenner driven with care. I would rather run an EV for convenience for my commute when it comes time to replace my car, even if the costs are similar but there seems a huge variation between home charging and public?

[Puzzles]

It’s about 10p per mile for me but it varies wildly, you need to check the places to plan to use, could be up to 20p per mile.

[biggbn]

Puzzles said:

It’s about 10p per mile for me but it varies wildly, you need to check the places to plan to use, could be up to 20p per mile.

Thanks man, so not too different than my old banger if i can find the lower tariff. That's good to know

[Puzzles]

Check out zap map and you can see the chargers and cost.

You’ll probably do 4-5 miles per kwh in those cars.

There is also PlugShare which is similar to zap map. If you are in Scotland then check ChargePlace Scotland.

[biggbn]

Puzzles said:

Check out zap map and you can see the chargers and cost.

You’ll probably do 4-5 miles per kwh in those cars.

There is also PlugShare which is similar to zap map. If you are in Scotland then check ChargePlace Scotland.

I don't understand what the kwh means man.

[SpeckledJim]

Assume 4 miles per kWh. Divide the price at your charger by 4 and that’s your approximate cost per mile.

If you have literally nowhere else to charge, then it’s not going to be cheap.

If you can charge at work or at home then that’ll make the world of difference. Like, 80-90% cheaper, potentially.

[biggbn]

SpeckledJim said:

Assume 4 miles per kWh. Divide the price at your charger by 4 and that’s your approximate cost per mile.

If you have literally nowhere else to charge, then it’s not going to be cheap.

If you can charge at work or at home then that’ll make the world of difference. Like, 80-90% cheaper, potentially.

Would have to be public chargers, I can only park on street, like perhaps the majority of car owners?

[TheRainMaker]

Let us take the i3 (this is all from Google)

It has a battery size of 38 kWh, there are losses when charging so let us call it 42 kWh

BP pulse charge 59p for a non member, so times 59p by 42 kWh gives you £24.78

The average range for that model of i3 according to EV database would be around 150ish miles.

£24.78 divided by 150 gives you 16p per mile.

[SpeckledJim]

biggbn said:

SpeckledJim said:

Assume 4 miles per kWh. Divide the price at your charger by 4 and that’s your approximate cost per mile.

If you have literally nowhere else to charge, then it’s not going to be cheap.

If you can charge at work or at home then that’ll make the world of difference. Like, 80-90% cheaper, potentially.

Would have to be public chargers, I can only park on street, like perhaps the majority of car owners?

A small majority of cars have off-street parking. In the Big Switch-Over, you may be jumping the gun. Life with an EV is already very easy if you have a drive or workplace charging. If you don’t then the current shared infrastructure is not yet really ready for you to get the best from the cars.

It might not be more expensive than your ICE. But it’s not going to be ‘dirt cheap’, as it would be on an EV-biased domestic electric contract.

5-10 years down the line it’ll be better.

[SpeckledJim]

biggbn said:

Puzzles said:

Check out zap map and you can see the chargers and cost.

You’ll probably do 4-5 miles per kwh in those cars.

There is also PlugShare which is similar to zap map. If you are in Scotland then check ChargePlace Scotland.

I don't understand what the kwh means man.

A kWh is an ‘amount’ of electricity. Like (but not equivalent to) a litre of petrol or a kilo of coal.

[biggbn]

Thanks all for indulging me and taking the time to explain. I think my car costs @10p a mile (6.50 a gallon for diesel, sitting at 65mpg over last few hundred miles but usually sits @60mpg) so an EV using public chargers would be significantly more expensive, not factoring in maintenence etc..., just as a simple comparison. Food for thought, and perhaps a sticking point for many after the infrastructure improves if they are used to running a frugal car?

[samoht]

If this is correct, I don't know how convenient the location is for you but there are a couple of chargers south of the Tay at 15p per kWh plus £1.60 connection fee.
https://chargeplacescotland.org/cpmap/chargepoint/...

At 4 miles to the kWh that would be about 5p per mile, including the connection fee if you're charging say 20%-80% on a 42kWh i3.

I guess if you don't have home charging it will be worth seeking out the cheaper local public chargers and using those for regular charging.

[biggbn]

samoht said:

If this is correct, I don't know how convenient the location is for you but there are a couple of chargers south of the Tay at 15p per kWh plus £1.60 connection fee.
https://chargeplacescotland.org/cpmap/chargepoint/...

At 4 miles to the kWh that would be about 5p per mile, including the connection fee if you're charging say 20%-80% on a 42kWh i3.

I guess if you don't have home charging it will be worth seeking out the cheaper local public chargers and using those for regular charging.

Thanks man, I'm keeping my current car until it is economically unviable to do so, just seeking to understand the real life costs involved in going electric. Thanks to all who have taken the time to help me out.

Edit. I see Angus Council charge 41p per kwh.

[TheDeuce]

biggbn said:

Thanks all for indulging me and taking the time to explain. I think my car costs @10p a mile (6.50 a gallon for diesel, sitting at 65mpg over last few hundred miles but usually sits @60mpg) so an EV using public chargers would be significantly more expensive, not factoring in maintenence etc..., just as a simple comparison. Food for thought, and perhaps a sticking point for many after the infrastructure improves if they are used to running a frugal car?

Public charging cost is definitely a sticking point for those that can't charge at home/work. It used to be OK before electricity prices shot up of course...

Longer term there are plans for local councils to install chargers for residents of terraced street/flats etc, which would ideally be charged to you at your household rate plus a small additional % for charger maintenance. It's going to happen but all a bit vague right now in regards of exactly how and when.

In your situation I'd have to say hold off for now, sadly. At least until electricity rates come down enough to make the existing public charger network cheaper than paying for petrol/diesel.

[biggbn]

TheDeuce said:

biggbn said:

Thanks all for indulging me and taking the time to explain. I think my car costs @10p a mile (6.50 a gallon for diesel, sitting at 65mpg over last few hundred miles but usually sits @60mpg) so an EV using public chargers would be significantly more expensive, not factoring in maintenence etc..., just as a simple comparison. Food for thought, and perhaps a sticking point for many after the infrastructure improves if they are used to running a frugal car?

Public charging cost is definitely a sticking point for those that can't charge at home/work. It used to be OK before electricity prices shot up of course...

Longer term there are plans for local councils to install chargers for residents of terraced street/flats etc, which would ideally be charged to you at your household rate plus a small additional % for charger maintenance. It's going to happen but all a bit vague right now in regards of exactly how and when.

In your situation I'd have to say hold off for now, sadly. At least until electricity rates come down enough to make the existing public charger network cheaper than paying for petrol/diesel.

[PistonTim]

I've got a new EV through work but I dont have charging at home (or the office) so I'm completely public charging dependant, and doing 20,000 a year.

The range and economy varies massively between vehicles and what sort of driving youre doing.

If your driver is purely to save 'fuel' money I would say dont bother, if youre getting a newer car, want to reduce overall running costs, do your bit for the environment then absolutely.

In my case charging is broadly similar to the cost of diesel at 40mpg and the car is 50% more powerful and 10 years newer (well brand new).

Public charging is wildly mixed, theres the high speed ones usually 69-79p / kw but also companies now like Connected Kerb who are slower but 50p / kw for example.

You can also get discounts with Octopus (such as 20% discount off peak) and theres apps like Bonnet where you can subscribe and get a discount too.

Yes home charging will always be cheaper and then the beards with solar and their own generation but not being able to charge on your driveway is absolutely NOT the end of the world either.

[SWoll]

PistonTim said:

I've got a new EV through work but I dont have charging at home (or the office) so I'm completely public charging dependant, and doing 20,000 a year.

Good luck.

Have run EV's for 4+ years and almost 60k miles and wouldn't touch one with a bargepole in that scenario. I assume you must be saving a lot in BIK to offset the pain and cost of solely using public charging?

[PistonTim]

SWoll said:

PistonTim said:

I've got a new EV through work but I dont have charging at home (or the office) so I'm completely public charging dependant, and doing 20,000 a year.

Good luck.

Have run EV's for 4+ years and almost 60k miles and wouldn't touch one with a bargepole in that scenario. I assume you must be saving a lot in BIK to offset the pain and cost of solely using public charging?

Did you read the rest of my post? I said its broadly the same as diesel, and I have no pain in using any public charging so far.

EV owners would do better not to perpetuate the same myths that ICE / Daily Mail readers too.

[SWoll]

PistonTim said:

Did you read the rest of my post? I said its broadly the same as diesel, and I have no pain in using any public charging so far.

EV owners would do better not to perpetuate the same myths that ICE / Daily Mail readers too.

You seem very confident for someone who's been running an EV for a very short period, maybe give it a while before suggesting that relying solely on public charging for big mileages (especially non Tesla) being a challenge is a "myth"?

Out of interest are you able to recoup the full cost of public charging for business mileage or just the 9ppm as per the government advisory? For a company car that can make a considerable difference over big mileages compared to a 2.0 diesel at 18ppm and for many leads to subsidizing the cost of business travel out of their own pocket

[TheRainMaker]

PistonTim said:

SWoll said:

PistonTim said:

I've got a new EV through work but I dont have charging at home (or the office) so I'm completely public charging dependant, and doing 20,000 a year.

Good luck.

Have run EV's for 4+ years and almost 60k miles and wouldn't touch one with a bargepole in that scenario. I assume you must be saving a lot in BIK to offset the pain and cost of solely using public charging?

Did you read the rest of my post? I said its broadly the same as diesel, and I have no pain in using any public charging so far.

EV owners would do better not to perpetuate the same myths that ICE / Daily Mail readers too.

I'm with SWoll with this one, there is no way I would run an EV without being able to charge at home or work.

I think this is very dependent on where you live though, my nearest public charger is 4 miles away, so that would be either sitting in the car for 2 hours to charge or the faff of dropping it off and a taxi each way.

But if it works for you, then happy days.