The average price of charging an electric car on pay-as-you-go public rapid points in Great Britain has increased by 21% since September 2021, according to the RAC’s new Charge Watch data, which it is monitoring as part of its FairCharge campaign.
Average costs, for those ad hoc charging, without a subscription, are now 44.55p per kWh, up almost 8p from the end of last summer.
It means that the average cost to charge to 80% for a typical family-sized EV with a 64 kWh battery has increased by £4 in this time – now at £21.81.
Despite the increase in prices for EV drivers, driven largely by higher electricity costs across the board, fuel costs have increased even more. To fill a 55-litre family car to 80% has jumped £14.54 in the same timeframe, to £74.21, a 24% increase.
Average costs now work out at 10p per mile when charging on a public rapid charger, up from 8p per mile last September. It remains nearly half the cost of filling a petrol-powered family car, which is now at 19p per mile – and a similarly sized diesel is nearly 21p per mile.
The FairCharge campaign is calling for the 20% VAT rate added to public EV charging last year to be removed, back down to 5% that is levied on domestic electricity use.
Not only is the cost of living spiralling upwards, but the campaign is calling for fairness in charging for those that don’t have access to home charging. It argues that those that rely on public charging to power their car should not be penalised in having to pay higher rates because of VAT.
