‘Real-life’ price of charging an electric vehicle revealed by Mina

The cost of charging an electric vehicle (EV) at home has levelled out, but public charging continues to increase, according to new research published by Mina.

Analysis of data, based on more than 50,000 real-life charging events, reveals that the price of home-charging stayed level last month (April), at 32p per kWh, on average.

The cost of charging an EV on the public network, meanwhile, rose to 76p/kWh.

Mina CEO Ashley Tate said: “Our data is unique in that it records an actual electric vehicle user’s cost and consumption, at home and in public, and so every month we can build a far more accurate picture of what’s really going on than just extrapolating from energy and charge point providers’ headline figures as others may have to.”

He explained that its analysis showed that the “shocking leaps” in energy prices of last year are not happening anymore.

However, he said: “We’re still seeing public charging costs have been rising bit-by-bit every month, even into spring.

“At home it’s a different story. Costs have levelled out and the question now, especially with the announcement of the new price cap from July, is whether there will be a fall in home charging tariffs as energy prices drop this summer, or whether it may take a while for the wholesale prices to feed through to EV users.”

Ofgem announced recently that the standard variable tariff for domestic electricity rates will be lowered to 30p/kWh from July 1. 

The reduction is down from the current 34p/kWh which has been in place since October 1, 2022.

Mina’s monthly report comes after analysis by the AA showed that the price of slow charging an electric vehicle (EV) on the public network increased by 5p/kWh in April, compared to March, while the fast-charging rate rose by 1p/kWh.

The figures, from the April 2023 AA EV Recharge Report, show an increase in slow charging costs by one supplier of EV charging at supermarkets pushed up the average price by 5p/kWh. However, it remains half the average cost of ultra-rapid charging when priced at a flat rate (as opposed to peak/off-peak pricing schemes).