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Comment by ErroneousBosh

3 hours ago

These are very, very expensive to charge at.

Mainly due to the standard 20% VAT rate applied to public electricity (compared to 5% for home charging) which could be rectified overnight if there was political will.

Breakdown of UK Public/Private and EV/ICE Per Mile Costs:

* Home (Off-Peak EV Tariff): ~3p per mile

* Home (Standard Standard Variable Tariff): ~8p per mile

* Standard Public EV: ~15p per mile

* Petrol Car: ~17p per mile

* Diesel Car: ~17.5p per mile

* 50kW+ DC Public EV: ~22p to 23p per mile

  • 17.5p per mile is wildly optimistic with diesel at nearly two quid a litre.

    I'm currently paying around 95p/litre for gas, which works out at around 23p per mile, in something with a 4.6 litre V8 that's registered as a low-emission vehicle (so cheaper tax) that mostly gets used to drag heavy trailers about the place.

    If I need to use a car it's because I'm unlikely to be doing less than double-digit miles to somewhere with no public transport.

    If I pop out to the supermarket for groceries, I wouldn't even think of cycling. It's quicker to walk...

Yes, I responded to your other comment about that. Charging at home is very cheap though and it's estimated that roughly half of housing in the UK has a driveway. Some more creativity is going to be required to address it for everyone else indeed, for example kerb or lamp-post chargers, or in flat building car parks etc.