West Midlands cheapest area in country for electric car charging

Research commissioned by British Gas using Freedom of Information request to councils, established it costs 20p per kilowatt hour in the region on average.

It also revealed a North-South divide, with drivers in the South of England paying over a quarter (28 per cent) more than those in the North of England and ales to charge using the cheapest public chargers.

There are 21 councils across England and Wales, including Leeds, Bridgend and Woking, where it is completely free to charge electric vehicles using council-owned public chargers.

Drivers in other areas are charged up to £4 for every kilowatt hour. In councils where public charging is this expensive, the number of people switching to electric may start to fall behind other areas as the driving population moves from early to mass adoption.

To charge from empty to full at the country’s most expensive chargers would cost EV drivers £240, based on average battery capacities. The same car would cost just £3.90 to charge at home, using a dedicated off-peak electric vehicle tariff.

This driveway discrimination is likely to leave many drivers without access to home charging behind in the race to switch to EVs in time for the 2030 ban.

It costs drivers in the South (East Anglia, London, the South East and South West of England) 32p per kWh to recharge compared with just 25p per kWh for people in the North (Wales, the Midlands, the North East and North West of England and Yorkshire an The Humber), based on the average price of the cheapest council owned chargers in each area.

The most expensive public chargers are within Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council on the south coast and Cotswold council in the South West at £4 per kWh if you choose the most expensive charger in either of these areas.

Lucy Simpson, head of EV enablement at British Gas, said: “The latest figures released today demonstrate the need for all UK councils to play their part in supporting the transition to electric vehicles. Currently, we have 21 progressive councils that have decided to support local EV adoption, so we would expect a greater uptake of EVs to come through in these areas than in councils where it is expensive to charge. If charging doesn’t become more accessible in these areas, we could see a slower rate of adoption.

“Whilst the Government does offer certain financial incentives at the point of purchase, charging costs are still a barrier to electric vehicle adoption. With 29 per cent of drivers citing expensive public charging as one of the main reasons holding them back, it’s unfair that those who don’t live in areas with either free or low cost charging are being discriminated against based on their address. If this continues, we risk leaving a huge number of drivers behind in the transition to electric cars.

“This especially affects those without a driveway or off-street parking, who are forced to pay over the odds to charge. While at the moment, we are advising drivers to stick with their current energy providers due to the cost of wholesale energy, in the medium term home charging systems, such as Hive EV charging, and electric vehicle specific tariffs will be the most cost-effective and convenient way to charge. What’s more this is invariably the most green method of charging as it makes use of overnight renewable energy.”