Electric Car Charging HITS £1kWh – wrecking EV’s ‘Cheap to Run’ mantra

The Osprey Car Charging Network has raised prices for charging an EV to £1 per kWh, making it more expensive to run an EV than an ICE car.

We all know we’ll have to go the electric car route in the coming years because our legislators have decreed so, and that’s going to be a big problem for many who simply can’t afford the inflated price new Evs are being flogged at.

There is an argument that the lower running costs of an EV will mitigate the upfront cost, and if you choose the finance route for your EV it could be that the sums add up. 

The trouble is, the rise and rise of EVs will inevitably mean that the government either starts to tax electricity for EV use at the same rate it does for petrol and diesel, or it introduces road charging and scraps the duty on fuel.

If, or rather when, that happens, EVs are going to cost more to run than ICE cars, but although that’s a little way off it looks like EVs, certainly if you’re away from home, are going to cost more per mile to run than equivalent ICE cars after the Osprey Car Charging network hiked prices to £1 per kWh.

At that price, it’s going to cost something like 20p per mile to charge the most basic Hyundai Kona Electric – a car which will cost you £30k – compared to 16p a mile to fuel a basic Hyundai Kona petrol which starts at around £20k.

Osprey is just the first of the charging networks to hike prices on the back of the energy crisis, but rates are already at 69p per kWh at Ionity and 50p at Gridserve. Both are likely to rise any time soon.