Study finds EV drivers could save hundreds by charging more efficiently
A new survey has found that drivers of electric vehicles could save themselves more than £336 a year on average by charging more efficiently.
The research, conducted by EV comparison website Love my EV, found that over a quarter of EV drivers charge their vehicle whenever they get home rather than waiting for the cheapest time to plug in.
The data uncovered that an average EV driver who charges whenever, irrelevant of price, would already lose out on savings of £200 per year on their charging alone and with rising energy prices, is set to spend an extra £160 on energy unnecessarily by not waiting for a cheaper off-peak period to charge their vehicle.
Mat Thomson, co-founder of Love my EV, said: “People need to move away from plugging in their vehicles as soon as they get home from work. This change in behaviour is good for the consumer, as lower energy prices during off-peak hours can be passed on. An average EV driver now stands to save an estimated £360 a year by simply charging during off-peak hours – and there may be further savings if they delay other household energy use.”
The research found that over half of EV drivers are plugging in to coincide with off-peak price windows. However, it claimed that the supply of renewables can be quite different to the off-peak windows of EV tariffs currently on the market.
Love my EV’s analysis of National Grid data for 2019-2020 found the greenest time to charge was between 2am and 4am, when the grid was on average 30% renewable energy. The survey revealed the actual renewable content within these hours ranged from 15% to 45%, and some on days midday charging could have been even greener.
Currently, only 12% of EV drivers hold off charging their car until a point in the week when they predict energy prices and carbon would be lowest. The data also revealed that less than 3% of drivers are making use of automated charging when energy is cheapest or lowest carbon intensity.
