Electric vehicles will be more expensive to run than petrol equivalents from October as the latest price cap hike punishes drivers for going green.
The unit cost of electricity will nearly double under new energy prices released yesterday, taking it to 86p per kWh, up from 56p. Petrol prices have fallen in recent weeks and stand at £1.70 per litre, in comparison.
As a result, it will cost more to travel long distances in an electric car than a petrol one – even before factoring in higher purchase prices for greener vehicles.
The owner of a Jaguars i-PACE, an electric SUV, would spend £99 more to travel the same distance as a driver in the petrol equivalent, the Jaguar f-PACE, according to calculations by breakdown service, the RAC.
The petrol version can travel around 400 miles on a full tank of petrol, which would cost around £50. The electric model only has a range of 290 miles and would need multiple charges to travel 400 miles – this would cost £99 more after October’s electricity price hike.
The same is true for cheaper models. A Kia e-Niro owner would have to spend £88 more than a Kia Sportage driver to travel the same distance.
The e-Niro will cost £33.80 to fully charge from October compared to £18.37 at the moment, RAC estimations showed.
The firm’s Rod Dennis said those who charged their cars at home would really feel the impact of October’s energy price rise.
He added: “A full charge of a typical family-sized electric SUV will cost 84pc more from October than it does under the current cap. Public charge points also have no choice but to increase prices to reflect rising wholesale costs, which will heavily impact drivers.”
Electric vehicle drivers can secure preferential electricity rates to charge at home with special EV tariffs available from some energy firms. However, the upfront cost of electric models is still far higher than petrol equivalents.
The cheapest MG ZS sells for as little as £16,795, according to comparison site CarWow, while its electric version, the MG ZS EV, costs around £30,000 on the manufacturer’s website.
Surging demand for electric cars has combined with a supply crunch of vital technology and driven up prices. Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed there was a 50pc increase in registrations of electric cars during the first seven months of the year, compared with the same period in 2021.
As a result, upfront costs have soared. The Honda-e is 30pc more expensive than this time last year, according to comparison site electrifying.com.
BMW has also increased its prices. In the past two months, the price for its iX model has risen by more than £7,400 to £77,305.
Ginny Buckley, of the website, said high prices, long wait times and the scrapping of a Government grant was pricing average consumers out of the market.
She said: “Electric car buyers are facing a reality where they need to find several thousand pounds more to get their chosen new car. Add to this the fact that drivers are having to wait up to 14 months to get behind the wheel, and we can see that electric cars could start to become out of reach.”
The RAC said the Government should cut the VAT charged on public charge points from 20pc to 5pc to aid electric vehicle drivers as energy prices rise. This, Mr Dennis said, would mirror the VAT rate on domestic energy bills.
This Post was originally published on telegraph.co.uk
