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Electric car sales in UK flatline, prompting calls for VAT cut
(www.theguardian.com)
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this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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The cost of public EV charging is putting people off EV's. 79p/Kwh is more expensive than petrol/diesel. Home charging is cheaper at a tenth of the price but when you are few hundred miles from home it's makes no economic sense.
Typical EV, 3.5 miles per kWh Rapid cost = 79p/kWh 79p/3.5 = 23p per mile
Typical petrol, 36 miles per gallon liters 4.5461 per gallon 36 / 4.5461 = 7.92 miles per liter 149.8p per litre 149.8p / 7.92 = 19p per mile
So yes, more expensive. BUT charging at a public charger is rare for me. About once a month.
I get 7p/kWh over night when I charge at home. I get about 3miles per kWh, so about 2.33p per mile. I commute about a thousand miles a month, charging at home. For about £23.33p
Public chargers are a rip off, but it's in the noise compared to the commute cost saving.
Likewise I charge at home on Octopus Go with most journeys within return distance of home. We do about 17k miles per year so we save about £2k a year over diesel. Yes public chargers are a rip off and do not see the prices coming down for EV or domestic any time soon if at all.
I think it will take either proper competition or regulation to stop public chargers being a rip off. Domestic can be cheaper now. There is dynamic pricing, where you can get negitive cost power. Solar and big house battery of course.
I mean you're not wrong but at the same time it's foolish to write off the cost of public charging as a non-issue. People who are used to having to drive somewhere to fill up with fossil fuels are already wary of charging times and charger availability, so the fact that it currently costs more than petrol is another reason for them to just buy another new combustion car while they're still available.
We went electric a smidge under 5 years ago and in that time the cost of a rapid charge has more than doubled. If that had happened to petrol or diesel there would've been riots in the streets!
It's a ridiculous state of affairs but nothing's likely to change while the government is beholden to the oil industry. This is exactly what they want.
How am I wrong? The maths should speak for itself. It sounds like you are more agreeing to be honest.
If you driving an ICE, being able to cheaply refuel a home is so game charging you can't really get it until you have being driving an EV for a month or two. Get a EV with range enough for x1.5-x2 your commute, and your good.
Rapid chargers should be cheaper and there should be more of them. But we also need more cheap slow chargers in carparks you going to park for hours anyway.
Though really, I'd rather better public transport than drive, but where I am, that's a way off.
I didn't say you're wrong, I said you're not wrong. My point was that it's easy for us who are already used to home charging to preach about how cheap and easy it is, but it flies over the heads of the average joe who seem to only think about it in terms of the public infrastructure - like petrol stations.
Hence, ignoring or downplaying the price of public charging because, in reality, it's a rare occurrence to actually need them does nothing to convince non-EV drivers to switch.
That was what I was getting at, but ultimately we're in agreement. If you're able to charge at home it's super cheap and super convenient, but the cost of public charging needs to come down drastically if we're going to convince ICE drivers to make the switch.
Argh, sorry. Some how missed the not.
I think we are saying same. Maybe EV ads should talk home charging. Frankly, right now, it's a bit questionable if you go EV without it. Though I met one guy charging at a public charger, who lives in flats and has very high milage. What he does is use a local Tesla charger bank over night at a low rate. But that doesn't scale of course.