Best EV tariff

Compare the best EV energy tariffs

So you have bought your new electric car, got your home charger installed and plug the electric vehicle in to charge. Then you get your first electricity bill and realise that while electricity is much cheaper than other fuel, charging electric cars can still be costly.

But like any household energy bill you can compare energy tariffs and energy suppliers tailored specifically for EV owners. So where to start...

Why should you look for the right EV tariff?

Money Saving

The obvious answer is the level of saving you can achieve by optimising your tariff. With electric cars often accounting for 1/3rd of the household electricity bill, it pays to find a good EV tariff.

One of the best ways to do this is to take advantage of off peak rates to charge your EV through the night or when energy demand is low. Off peak hours tend to be between midnight and 4am for most providers. This does vary, so its always worth checking exactly where the peak hours and peak rates start and end with your EV energy tariff.

The saving difference when using off peak rates can be quite dramatic. For example a peak rate can be between 15p/kwh up to 22p/kwh, in comparison to off peak rates as low as 4.5p/kwh.

Based on these fully charging a Tesla model 3 at peak rate prices will cost around £12, compared to a much more reasonable £2.47 at off peak prices [monthly or annual prices often more impactful - you can use 2,000 kWh per month as a good assumption for average usage]. Looking at an average usage of 2000 kWh per month, you can potentially save a staggering £350 per month. All from ensuring your energy tariff is suitable for electric vehicles.

Renewable energy

As with a lot of electric vehicle owners, ensuring that your carbon footprint is as low as possible is becoming as important as finding out how much you could save. All of the energy tariffs Rightcharge compare use 100% renewable electricity. So you can be confident that when you charge your electric car, you are being as green as possible.

What to look for when considering an Electric car tariff

Off Peak Charging Times

As we mentioned earlier, finding the best energy tariff will largely depend on the rates you get at off peak hours. However, these are only useful if your lifestyle fits around them and your are able to charge your electric car during these time and avoid peak rates.

For example some of the cheapest rates at off peak times have a smaller window to use them. These can be from 12am to 4am. Now this is great if like most people you will be asleep with your car in the drive ready to charge. However, if you work during these hours or travel a lot then you may miss out on this saving. Instead it may be more beneficial to look at EV tariffs which have a wider window of off peak even if the per kWh price is slightly more.

The EDF Goelectric 98 energy tariff has includes all day in the weekends and 9pm to 7am on weekdays. This gives you a much greater time period to charge your electric car while avoiding peak rates.

Max home charging speed

Some electric cars - particularly hybrids - are limited to slower charging at home (3.6kW instead of the usual 7kW)- these cars might need longer off-peak hours particularly if you are regularly charging from empty.

Charging speed doesn't play a part in terms of which of the EV tariffs you can access, however it can help if you have a limited time to be able to take advantage of off peak hours. If you don't have the option of charging overnight or only have access to a couple of hours of off peak times, then charging you electric car as quickly as possible can save you money on your electricity bills.

Scheduling

As most of the off peak tariff for electric cars are during the night or anti-social hours scheduling is a great way to make sure you always get the most out of your electricity tariff. Most charge points these days are able to schedule against your electricity tariff and are marked with the 'smart charging' tag on our charge points results page. Unlike your phone, which you are likely to be charging from empty to full each day, with your car you may be charging from 80% most days with only larger journeys draining the battery more. This may not sound significant but as you can then charge for a shorter amount of time, you can schedule the charge to be overnight during the off peak tariffs.

This is where considering how often you will be charging from home is vital and how likely you will be able to access the cheaper electricity during these hours consistently.