[giobox]

At some stage I wonder if the UK will need to regulate the charger industry. The price gouging is wild in places. If we look at the energy content of petrol, a litre of gas contains about 9kwh of energy, or at average pump prices 1.58/9 = ~18 pence a kwh.

For sure, EVs are far more efficient at converting a kwh of energy into forward motion, but if we assume 35 mpg (9.25 miles/litre) for the gas car, we need about 970wh to travel 1 mile. A modern EV can manage a mile on ~260wh, almost a quarter of the gas requirement.

There are public charging networks in the UK averaging 92p/kwh - we know we need much less energy to move the more efficient EV, but even with this adjustment fuel cost per mile looks like:

petrol at UK average today: 17p/mi

Electric at very expensive public charger: ~24p/mi !!

At many chargers, there are no savings at all. For comparisons sake, that 92p kwh would be just 28.6p on the most expensive domestic electricity supply, and charging at home would be ~8p per mile on the worst possible tariffs.

I've probably done some bad math somewhere here, but I think the broad picture is correct.

[baq]

The market should sort this out by itself, not saying regulators shouldn’t watch closely, but competition should be enough to do its thing. Cartel formation especially should be watched for vigilantly.

[KaiserPro]

dpeends on the car. My Zoe does 4.8 miles per kwhr, my old car does 35 miles per gallon (or 7.6 miles per litre) petrol is currently £1.6 a litre.

Which is 21p per mile, for my petrol car

at 98p a kwhr its 20p per mile.

but in practice the electric car is 3 pence a mile for me (average car charging price for me is 15p a kwhr)

[giobox]

> dpeends on the car

Of course, thats why I've been clear all my assumptions are for 260wh/mi, which I think is a very fair middle ground figure to compare to a 35mpg car - one can pick far more fuel efficient gas cars for this comparison too, the possibilities are endless.

I think your numbers still illustrate the same point though; if you can't charge at home, an EV is not necessarily cheaper to fuel, and the gap between the public charger price and the cost to a private consumer with home charging is still far too big. 98p vs 15p is staggering.

[KaiserPro]

oh yeah sorry it was meant to illustrate your point, that some of those fast chargers are massive piss takes.