The average cost of using a rapid charger to top up an electric car battery has risen by more than a fifth in the past eight months – with the cost of ‘ultra-rapid’ chargers increasing by nearly 50 per cent.
The pricing data has been released by the RAC through a new Charge Watch initiative, which is modelled on the Fuel Watch system that it uses to track the price of petrol and diesel.
According to the RAC, the average price of charging an EV on a pay-as-you-go, non-subscription basis at a public rapid charger is now 44.55p per kilowatt hour, with the rise of 7.81p/kWh representing a 21 per cent increase on the 36.74p/kWh last September.
Everything you need to know about electric car charging
That means the cost of an 0-80% charge using a public rapid charger for an ‘average family EV’ with a 64kWh battery has risen from £18.81 to £22.81. That means it now costs an average of 10p per mile to use a rapid charger, compared to 8p last September.
The cost of using ultra-rapid chargers – which the RAC defines as units with a power output of 100kW or higher – have increased even more steeply. The average unit now costs 50.97p/kWh compared to 34.31p/kWh last September, a rise of 16.76p/kWh. That pushes the cost of filling a 64kWh battery from 0-80% from £17.51 to £26.01.
While those price rises are significant, they are dwarfed by the rising price of petrol. The cost of filling a 55-litre family car from empty to 80% capacity over the same period has risen from £59.67 to £71.21, an increase of £14.54. That represents a cost of 19p per mile.
The increased cost of charging an electric car is linked to rises in the wholesale cost of electricity, which has been affected by the rising cost of gas.
The RAC’s Charge Watch initiative is run in association with the FairCharge campaign, which is lobbying for the government to cut the 20% VAT rate currently levied on electricity at public chargers to 5%, to match the VAT charged on domestic electricity. FairCharge says that difference unfairly penalises drivers who don’t have access to home charging.
The RAC data shows that reducing the VAT on electricity from public chargers would reduce the cost of using a rapid charger by 5.57p/kwh, cutting £2.85 from the cost of an 80% charge.
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