True, although I don't yet have an EV, we've here generated almost 20kWh from solar today, (probably will be about 24 by sunset), and this is in April! With a 10kWh battery fully charged, I can export (i.e. sell) 6kWh and still get through to tomorrow's sun. Running 1 or even 2 EVs in a few years should result on almost zero energy costs except on holiday etc..
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UK switching to electric vehicles discussion
- Thread starter MattA7
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I think I'm going to generate about 40kWh today, which is nearly what I'd expect to do in June or July! The battery is 46kWh usable so probably equates to about 180-190 miles. Instead, I've exported just over 30kWh so far (maybe 32-33 by the end of the day), which at 12p per kWh means almost £4 earned.
Because of the export value, it's still cheaper for me to charge overnight at what's now 8p (thanks Donald!) and export the solar in the day, but I can see a time when export won't be paid as highly - at least not at times when there's excess solar generation nationally - and then I can charge the car instead.
cactustwirly
Established Member
Which is not a big saving
Especially when the fuel price is at a historic high point.
There is still a massive disadvantage of living with an EV vs ICE in usability.
I think 4p a mile extra is well worth it to have a car with decent range and be able to pull up in basically anywhere and refuel in 5 minutes
If you're rushing in to a petrol station and out in five minutes then, yes, it's quicker. That is assuming you don't need to drive far to and from it.
But if you're also stopping and using the toilet or grabbing a coffee or snack from the kiosk then you have to add the filling up time on to the time of doing the rest.
The alternative is to plug in, do some things and then unplug and go. Chances are it will be about the same time overall.
And this comparison ignores the fact that most people aren't doing huge road trips so don't need to add that much range, just as not everyone going to a petrol station does a full fill up either. I often put in only a small amount if travelling because it was expensive and only enough to get me to somewhere cheaper later on.
We're clearly back to the whole idea that people need to have a ICE car with a 500+ mile range for those emergency trips at 2am.
I do hope these people always keep their tanks full up so they won't need to find a petrol station when they get the call that their sick nan in the Highlands of Scotland has been rushed to hospital. Many EV owners will be starting every day with 100%.
But if you're also stopping and using the toilet or grabbing a coffee or snack from the kiosk then you have to add the filling up time on to the time of doing the rest.
The alternative is to plug in, do some things and then unplug and go. Chances are it will be about the same time overall.
And this comparison ignores the fact that most people aren't doing huge road trips so don't need to add that much range, just as not everyone going to a petrol station does a full fill up either. I often put in only a small amount if travelling because it was expensive and only enough to get me to somewhere cheaper later on.
We're clearly back to the whole idea that people need to have a ICE car with a 500+ mile range for those emergency trips at 2am.
I do hope these people always keep their tanks full up so they won't need to find a petrol station when they get the call that their sick nan in the Highlands of Scotland has been rushed to hospital. Many EV owners will be starting every day with 100%.
BananaRepublic
Member
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March new car sales figures are out
Battery Electric 86,120 (22.4%)
Plug in electric PHEV 49,671 (13.0%)
Hybrid HEV 60,268 (15.8%)
Petrol 165,997 (43.6%)
Diesel 18,571 (4.9%)
So over 35% now battery or PHEV, and less than 50% pure fossil fuel
UK New Car Registration Data - Latest Figures & Statistics | SMMT
Discover the latest UK car registration data: new car registration statistics, the number of cars in the UK, and more.www.smmt.co.uk
Monthly data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) has now been published for March 2026 and the year-to-date (Q1 Jan-Mar).
Within this, we can see the breakdown of the UK's SMMT's monthly stats for passenger cars, with regard to fuel type for new registrations, that include figures for Mild-Hybrid versus pure Petrol or Diesel (with no form of electrification).
Just focussing on market share of each fuel/power type.....
UK - March 2026 + YTD Q1
Battery Electric (BEV) 22.6% 22.4%
Plug-in Electric (PHEV) 13.0% 12.8%
Hybrid (HEV) 15.8% 14.9%
Mild-Hybrid Petrol (MHEV-P) 21.2% 21.7%
Petrol 22.4% 23.3%
Mild-Hybrid Diesel (MHEV-D) 3.3% 3.2%
Diesel 1.6% 1.8%
From these figures, you can see that "pure" Petrol and Diesel, i.e. with no form of electrification, now accounts for only a quarter of all new car registrations.
That figure is getting close to the percentage of new registrations that are "pure" battery (BEV).
However, as pointed out earlier in this thread, that still means that three quarters of all new registrations, still employ a fossil burner (ICE) in some capacity.
.
The Zev mandate minimum targets were 22% for 2024 , 28% for 2025 , and 33% for 2026.
With 2026 sales at the 2024 limit, the bureaucrats who drafted the timescale of the Zev mandate were probably over-ambitious in their aspirations by a couple of years
Except they’re not. Fuel prices were higher in 2022 in cash terms. Petrol was £1.91 in June 2022 according to the RAC, allowing for RPI inflation that is the equivalent of £2.30 now.
The petrol staton nearest me currently has petrol at £1.51, ie 34% cheaper in real terms than 4 years ago.
cactustwirly
Established Member
They are because of the Iran War
Before that it was £1.30 ish for the 4 years since the Ukraine war
For the vast majority of people they are unlikely to be doing 20 trips a year of between 100 and 240 miles (a trip being each way).
However, that is what we do and actually the time taken to charge (EV with a real usable range of 130 miles) isn't that big a deal.
Especially given that for the rest of the year we never have to fill up away from home.
Being able to not have to stop on the way to work is a bigger advantage than stopping for an extra 15 minutes on a four hour journey (240 miles).
As such, given we are exceptional when it comes to longer distance travel and we have found that it's not an issue, if suspect that many others (clearly not everyone, but not no one either) could come to the same conclusion, especially if it's less that 4 trips a year.
Which was the price we used as our calculation for at home charging giving us the energy cost saving to cover 75% of the lease deal on a new car.
The thing is that whilst 35% of homes don't have off street parking this is likely to only be around 20% of all cars, as car ownership is lower for those dwelling without driveways.
Even then, there's new builds without off street parking but allocated parking which are getting home chargers (on a post rather than fixed to their home) which will reduce that 20% figure further.
Yes the savings may not be significant at that 4p per mile, however, it's still on a par with (even without reduced servicing costs) ICE fuel costs. Although that isn't even
a) using off peak EV charging tariffs
b) using solar to charge the car
c) considering future changes in energy costs (which may include lower electricity prices due to breaking the link with the cost of gas)
d) granted it doesn't account for away from home charging, however even for a high a high user of long distance trips (like we are), the total for that is low as at least 1/4 of our long distance milage will be charged at home.
As such, it's likely to about the worst anyone could expect to pay.
Peter Sarf
Established Member
My bold. That will be irrelevant to those who do not have access to an overnight charger - as in no driveway.
It's only a minority of people that don't have off road parking and, as we've seen, on-street parking has a number of potential solutions.
Snow1964
Established Member
Minority is wrong
Approx 55% of UK homes have driveways.
Another 15% have other off road parking (car parks for flats, garage blocks, underground parking, other off road parking)
Just 30% do not have off road parking.
Of course locally there are areas without off road parking, but there are also areas with 100% driveways too.
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Although that's only part of the picture, in that the car ownership rates for priorities with no off street parking is typically lower than those with some private parking.
This typically means that around 20% of cars are associated with that 30-35% of properties without private parking.
Conversely over 70% of cars are owned by people with a home with a driveway.
>70% is clearly a majority (the definition of which is anything more that 50%) and probably could be said to be a clear majority but not a vast majority (typically around 90%).
Of course, creating EV charging isn't the only solution, as that may require highs car ownership rates. For example, improving public transport, active travel provision and the like.
I’m sorry, are you suggesting that £1.51 is more than £1.91?
Probably referring to inflation, but wages for most people have nowhere near kept up with inflation.
Most people would struggle on one income these days and even if two people were working (which might then require two cars if public transport isn't viable) so many costs have shot up (eg rent or mortgages) that nobody has thought petrol or diesel was cheap even before the fuel crisis'.
Snow1964
Established Member
I wondered about how much of the population rent and mortgage rises affects.
Seems 34-35% (just over third) are owned outright
29% are mortgaged (not buy to let mortgage)
About 36% are rented
So hard to generalise that cost rises of certain products affect everyone
I’m sure that’s true for some people, but it can’t be true for most.
The ONS publishes various stats in this.
For comparison, CPIH Inflation vs Average earnings growth over various timescales to now (start dates picked as being start of each 5 year period from Jan 2000 to Jan 2020:
Since Earnings CPIH
2000. 244%. 93%
2005. 97%. 79%
2010. 70%. 59%
2015. 56%. 42%
2020. 37%. 30%
Even in the period Jan 22 (just before the start of the high inflation period) to now, Earnings have risen on average by 23.7%, while CPIH inflation has been 22.9%.
Whilst, clearly, wage growth has become more aligned to inflation in the past few years than previously when typically wages grew materially quicker than inflation, it is still higher than inflation , on average.
And this is average, and doesn’t reflect individual experiences, where many people have wage progression as they move through their careers.
cactustwirly
Established Member
I was not, you're deliberately mentioning the prices during the 2022 Ukraine invasion and ignoring the prices in the 4 years since, which is twisting facts to fit your argument
Are you suggesting the oil prices right now are normal?
MicroLithium
Member
It’s an interesting question about at what point we’d consider oil prices to be normal, given that every decade since the 70s has had some kind of price shock relating to world events
But you're suggesting it's been in the £1.30's pretty much ever since the war started given you mention a four year period. That isn't my recollection, it didn't get down to that level for at least 2 years after the war kicked off.
cactustwirly
Established Member
How can you say it's a normal price? That's completely ridiculous, there is a war which has caused the price of oil to spike! That's totally normal is it?
birchesgreen
Established Member
Yes but its not a historic high if you take inflation into account. Of course, this isn't much comfort when you need to fill up at the moment.
thejuggler
Established Member
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- 8 Jan 2016
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- 1,640
Houses with driveway isn't a useful metric for assessing why so few EVs. All my street has houses with a driveway for 1 car. There are 14 houses, there are 30 vehicles.
So 16 vehicles aren't on a driveway, they are on street. Charging them all on cheap overnight electricity is therefore impossible.
So 16 vehicles aren't on a driveway, they are on street. Charging them all on cheap overnight electricity is therefore impossible.
Very few people need to charge every night.
Sun Chariot
Established Member
These Earnings increase:
a) do these stats also include "non-working" population (i.e. those whose income is wholly and solely Universal Credit)?
b) the worked-earnings must reflect a person changing roles / organisations / sectors. Certainly in my six employers, the typical annual "in-role" wage-growth was 2% to 2.5%
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I never charge at home, but if I did, I would have charged just 8 times since January 2026. I probably drive slightly less than the UK average, but even so, charging once every 2/3 weeks isn't a lot. Certainly nowhere near the highly unusual 'I need to charge every day' scenario.
I charge at the Supercharger @22p per kWh. I drive approximately 120/150 miles per week. Total cost so far this year is £99.50, or 4-5p per mile.
(Image shows a charging history of Tesla Supercharging, showing 8 charging sessions, with costs, since January)
Even with a car with a fairly low range (winter usable range 120 miles) and a 45 mile round trip to work that only needs charging every other day (so a lower range and a fairly high daily driving distances, basically 10,000 miles annually just for that daily driving, and it still allows two cars to be charged by alternating which is charging).
I don't use a home charger, but I believe you can only charge one car at a time so would have to alternate even if the driveway had room for two cars.
Is that correct?