One of the advantages of EV ownership is the ability to charge while parked – This is especially beneficial when parked at home and over-night.
Time-Of-Use (TOU) energy tariffs are designed for EV owners to charge up at low peak times of energy demand with really low prices of c.£0.05p per kWh – The low peak period is typically between 12-30am to 5am.
This is a great opportunity to minimise running costs, especially for most commuters and business drivers as the 4–5-hour low tariff window simply means topping up around 100 miles of range (using a 7kW supply and charger) – and costing c.£1.50 – most won’t even need to do this every night… Maybe just once a week… No wonder most everyday drivers would never think of going back to ICE… and that’s before factoring in zero road tax, no CAZ charges and minimal maintenance costs.
Most cab drivers on the other hand, will need to charge beyond this cheap tariff window and replicate this every night – and doubling this time might be more reasonable to expect – as most will cover more than 200 miles in a day.
Adding a peak time tariff of £0.20p per kWh – (Using a fast home smart charger charging at 7kWh) for an additional 4-½ hours would mean adding an additional £6.30 to the low peak TOU tariff of £1.50 to have over 200 miles range available for the next day…
That’s still only around £7.80 per day for an EV Cab capable of over 200 miles electric range, by charging at home and combining a low-rate time-of-use (TOU) tariff – together with an equal amount of peak time electricity to fulfil most daily needs of over 200 miles.
What if You Have No Private Home Parking?
Of course this is all well and good if you have private off-road parking and charging available – but if not – things are not quite so straightforward in practice.
Home vs Public Fast and Rapid Charging:
Consider two EV drivers – both with identical EVs, except one can charge at home and the other cannot.
Both use the same vehicle with same size battery and efficiency – Both drives exactly the same number of miles per year…
The lucky one with access to a domestic chargepoint paying based on the mixed energy tariffs previously outlined and averaging 220 miles a day 6 days a week over 48 weeks would pay energy @£7.80 daily – that’s £46.80 per week or £2,246 per year – and this is achieved with the convenience of charging at home, while sleeping…
The unlucky one has three options:
1. Fast Street Charging – Dependent on convenience of charger locations and availability and charging at the same speed as home @7kWh. Costing c.£0.25p per kWh – (Assuming they can find an available, convenient street charger 6 nights a week ??) –
This would work out costing around £16.00 to top up enough for over a 200-mile shift – Averaging 220 miles a day 6 days a week @£16.00 per day over 48 weeks with energy @ £96.00 per week or £4,608 per year over double the cost of private home charging. As it currently stands this option is highly unlikely due to patchy numbers of street chargers from borough to borough and an almost total lack of these in most suburbs. This is one of the areas of charging infrastructure that is due to undergo a huge expansion up to 2030… More on that in another article…
2. Rapid DC Public Charging – The more likely option to fast street charging – is to use rapid DC chargers which also means downloading a plethora of ChargePoint operator (CPO) apps to either access some of the networks (some of which may also require a subscription) and planning where suitable rapid chargers are – convenient to needs – while hoping they’re available at those times needed – Costing typically c.£0.40p per /kWh.
Rapid chargers vary in speed from 50kWh up to 350kWh but around 85% of the public network are still 50kWh, besides which, many EVs are still only capable of rapid charging up to 100kWh.
50kWh chargers typically add around 100 miles range in around 35 minutes – This is dependent on the size of the EV battery however, because to fully charge takes longer than expected – due to batteries requiring a ramp-up in speed up to 20% charge – and a ramp-down in speed from 80% to full.
Using rapid public DC infrastructure as the means to recharge will also mean factoring in dwell-time out of each day but in comparison the cost to enable an EV for over 200 miles range is going to be over double that of fast street charging… So Averaging 220 miles a day 6 days a week over 48 weeks with daily energy @£0.40p per kWh that’s £150.00 per week or £7,200 per year. As it stands for Taxi and PH drivers, this is very much the more likely option using public infrastructure.
3. Workplace / Depot Charging. For companies that have depots with adequate parking space then workplace charging creates more flexible options and the ability to plan a strategy to maximise vehicle usage and minimise energy costs. Fleet management going forward is increasingly energy management.
The options available for charging at work allows fleets to create innovative business models. With a mixture of 7-22kWh AC chargers and / or rapid DC.
This infrastructure can also be supplemented by decentralised renewable energy such as solar, with additional off-grid power generation and battery storage. This democratises energy and affords a number of complex but exciting opportunities to explore regarding vehicle choices, operations, energy deployment, charging infrastructure and various attractive financed packages.
The need for companies to plan implementation of their own charging infrastructure is now here. The strategies to implement this can create new and more profitable business models and present some with excellent opportunities to capitalise on the transition and decarbonisation of both power and mobility.
To enable a fluid, structured transition to EVs requires a new skill set from fleet owners and managers who need to be well-informed, trained, & resourced.
The risks of making the wrong decisions are huge and impact the bottom-line profits of your company & even your position in the market vs competitors.
This is where our services help you, we provide independent EV consultancy, encompassing end-end solutions & EV ChargePoint and connected renewable installations to help your business THRIVE during the transition to EVs.
Book a FREE call to find out how we can help you save money and time in your shift to electric.
