How to save money on an electric car

There are a few government schemes to help make buying new electric vehicles more affordable. The main ones are the Electric Car GrantOpens in a new window and funding to help you install a home charging station (known as electric vehicle chargepoint grants).

You don’t need to do anything to get the Electric Car Grant. The car manufacturer will already have applied it as a discount to the sale price of new eligible electric cars priced under £37,000. This is worth £1,500 or £3,750. 

 A larger discount is available for work vehicles like vansOpens in a new window and trucksOpens in a new window

You can apply for an electric vehicle chargepoint grantOpens in a new window to help pay to install a home charger if you meet the criteria.  

At the moment this is only available if you:

• rent

• live in a flat, or

• only have on-street parking. 

There are also grants for landlords and businesses that are installing a chargepoint. 

If you’re buying a new electric car for less than £37,000, some eligible vehicles will have a discount of either £1,500 or £3,750 applied.

How much discount you’ll get depends on if the manufacturer has met sustainability targets set by the government. 

You can find the list of eligible vehiclesOpens in a new window and the level of discount on the GOV.UK site. 

To claim the discount, you don’t need to apply as the grant will have already been taken off the purchase price if the car is eligible. 

Charging your car at public chargepoints is much more expensive than charging at home and paying through your normal electricity bill. It could make financial sense for you to put in a charger on your driveway or where you normally park your car. 

The electric vehicle chargepoint grantOpens in a new window provides a grant to cover up to 75% of the cost of installing a home charging station, capped at £350.

However, not everyone will be eligible for this scheme. If you own your own home, and it’s a house with off-street parking, you won’t be able to claim. Check the eligibility criteriaOpens in a new window on the GOV.UK site. 

 Buying an electric car can be expensive, and a lot of the grants and discounts that were offered on EVs in the past are no longer available. 

However, there are ways you can save money. If your employer has a salary sacrifice scheme for electric vehicles, this can make leasing a car more affordable. 

Your first year of car tax for a new electric vehicle is reduced to £10, and after that it’s charged at the same rate as a non-electric car. 

Electric vehicles usually don’t have pay charges in clean air zonesOpens in a new window in cities across the UK and the ultra-low emission zone (ULEZ)Opens in a new window in London.

The cost of charging an electric car depends on where and when you charge. 

Charging at home is usually the cheapest option. On average, a full charge for a medium-sized electric car costs between £15 and £20 when using a standard electricity tariff. With off-peak or EV-specific tariffs, this cost can drop even further.

It could be worth switching energy supplier or tariff to one that offers an off-peak or electric vehicle tariff. These offer lower electricity prices if you charge your car overnight. 

Public charging points are more expensive. Rapid chargers can charge your car to 80% in about half an hour usually cost between 60p and 80p per kWh. This means a full charge could cost over £30, depending on the size of your battery. 

 Even though the upfront cost of an electric car can be high, charging an EV is often cheaper than filling up with petrol or diesel. For drivers who mainly charge at home, savings can add up to hundreds of pounds each year compared with traditional cars.