The sales of new electric cars in the UK is increasing dramatically and as the numbers being manufactured rises, the cost of these vehicles will begin to fall. This drop in price will make electric motoring more accessible to the average motorist, which will in turn stimulate the second hand market in electric vehicles.

EV car sales in the UK increased by 76.3% in 2021, which means that there are approximately 400,000* electric vehicles and around 750,000* plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) in use in the UK and these are being serviced by somewhere in the region of 42,000* EV charging points electric cars in the UK last year, accounting for about 11.6% of total sales. Which begs the question, ‘Will the number of EV charging points keep up with the rising demand from the market?’

The two most vocalised barriers to buying an electric vehicle are, the cost of buying them and worries over charging them. The prices will drop as manufacturing quantities rise, but that will take time and we have no control over that. Vehicle charging is an issue we can influence, mainly by lessening our reliance on public charging points. If the recent pandemic has shown us anything, it has illustrated that when a product appears to be in short supply, many people will take every opportunity to buy some. It is likely then, that as drivers, if we feel insecure about vehicle charging, we will do likewise and plug in anywhere we can as often as we can, to top up our charge, just to be sure!

The best way to overcome this behaviour is to charge up at home, it’s quicker, cheaper and less intrusive to our lifestyle. Some supermarkets and hotels are offering free charge points but these are usually being used by people just topping up, just in case. Without owning an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid, the items we tend to charge up most are our mobile phones and laptops and we normally charge these up overnight, while we are asleep. So, why not do the same with our electric vehicle.

It is entirely possible to simply plug our new electric or hybrid car into charge using a regular three-pin 13Amp socket, although it is not the most efficient way of charging, being classified as a slow charger, taking up to 24 hours to charge a medium sized vehicle and will not allow you to take advantage of the special EV charging electricity tariffs which are available.

A Home EV Charger can be fixed to the outside wall of your house or garage. Some have what’s known as a tethered cable, which is attached to the charger. Others have an untethered cable, which is more flexible if you have more than one electric car with different connectors. It is then hard wired into your electricity supply and can be pre-programmed to charge your car. You simply drive up, plug in and forget about it until the morning

Prices for a Home EV Charger vary but broadly they cost somewhere between £350 and £800. However, you can currently get one of a number of government grants towards having one installed. The Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme, Workplace Charging Scheme and On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme, will all cover 75 per cent of the price of a home charging point, these grants are capped at £350. The Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme is available to homeowners who live in single-unit properties such as bungalows, detached, semi-detached or terraced housing and is set to end on 31 March 2022. As of April 2022, the scheme will become available to homeowners who live in flats and people who live in rental accommodation. Billing in these areas is more complicated and depends on the size and layout of the apartment block, so a conversation with either the apartment management company or your local council would be a good place to start any conversation around this.

The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is a voucher-based scheme that provides grants towards the cost of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle charge-points, for eligible businesses, charities and public sector organisations. Commercial organisations can claim £350 per charging point, up to a maximum of 40 units,

In order to take advantage of these schemes, you are required to use a government-approved installer and they must install a government approved charging station. There are any number of approved installers in the marketplace, all experienced in installing charging points. Some car makers offer a free charging point when you buy one of their vehicles and those who don’t will undoubtedly give you helpful advice in how to get a Home EV Charger fitted, as part of a government grant scheme or not.

This might be an electrician coming to your property. It might be an online survey where you send in photographs of your consumer unit, meter, main fuse details and proposed location of the charging point.

The main benefit of getting your own Home EV Charger is to allow you to charge your car relatively quickly and when you want to. Most electric cars charge at around 7kW at home (roughly 30 miles of range per hour). This is because most UK homes have a single-phase electricity supply that will provide up to 7kW of power to the vehicle, which means that a medium sized electric vehicle with a 50kWh battery would take around seven hours to replenish fully from empty.

The other main benefit of home charging is the cost. Go Ultra Low is a joint government and industry campaign, supported by the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV), vehicle manufacturers and energy providers. The site gives information for those looking to make the move to electric motoring and has an EV energy tariff tool to compare and find the best tariff from a number of major electricity suppliers. These tariffs range from around 5p/kW per hour off-peak, showing a good saving per mile from conventional vehicles and are quite a lot cheaper than you’ll pay at a public EV charging point.

There has been a great deal of publicity recently over the substantial rises in electricity prices and these will obviously impact on the cost of fuelling electric motoring, however it should also be remembered that petrol and diesel prices have also risen substantially of late.

Regardless of any fuel cost increases, it should be remembered that the main reason for the government encouraged switch to electric vehicles is to cut down on our carbon footprint, in an effort to slow down global warming.

*Figures as of Jan 2022

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