Is EV charging expensive?

Updated August 2026 with current grant amounts, prices and regulations.

In some of our previous posts, we have already discussed general questions about how much to charge an electric car in the UK. However, perhaps, the more interesting question is a question about the costs of covering, for example, 100 miles when driving an electric vehicle.

A few words about the comparison base

To answer the question about whether EV charging is really expensive, let’s specify the comparison base. Here, we are speaking about the average EV battery efficiency.

So, let’s turn to numbers. For a great number of pure electric EV models, the average real-life battery efficiency is around 260 Wh/mi. Therefore, driving 100 miles involves consuming roughly 26 kWh. All prices below are mid-2026 figures.

When charging an EV at public EV chargers

First, we compare the costs of charging an EV at public chargepoints. We calculate public EV charging costs first to bring our calculations closer to the options petrol car drivers have got.

Public charging has become noticeably more expensive since we first wrote this post. In mid-2026, pay-as-you-go rapid and ultra-rapid chargers average around 80p per kWh (typically 65-85p), so the cost of travelling 100 miles is around £21. Slower public fast AC chargers, at 40-60p per kWh, bring 100 miles down to roughly £10-16. Public charging also carries 20% VAT, whereas home electricity is charged at 5%.

For comparison, a petrol car doing 40-45 mpg uses 10-11 litres over 100 miles, which at August 2026 pump prices of around £1.60 per litre is roughly £16-18 - so relying only on rapid chargers can cost as much as petrol.

When charging an EV at home

One of the advantages that EV drivers enjoy is the option of charging their vehicles at home. So, let’s calculate your costs of driving 100 miles with “at home” charging:

• around £6.80 if you are on a standard tariff (about 26p per kWh under the July 2026 price cap)
• around £7-8 if you are on a two-rate EV tariff and top up your EV battery during the day, when the peak rate is close to or a little above the standard rate
• around £1.80-2.60 if you are on an EV tariff and top up your EV battery overnight, when off-peak rates are 7-10p per kWh

Well, aren’t the numbers impressive? Can any petrol car driver boast of travelling 100 miles on only £2.60? To use these overnight rates you need a smart home charge point (every new home charger must be smart under the 2021 Smart Charge Points Regulations). A home installation typically costs £900-1,200 in London, and renters, flat owners and households with on-street parking can claim £500 per socket through the EV chargepoint grant. See our home vs public EV charging cost comparison for more scenarios.