The cheapest and cleanest way to charge your car at home is to use a smart charger, and to switch to a 100% renewable electricity tariff.
We have compiled a list of these tariffs here.
You will also find that smart chargers tend to be the cheapest option to install at the moment, as the OZEV grant is now only applicable to a smart charger.
‘Smart’, essentially means the chargers can communicate remotely, which means it can do some clever things. It varies by charger, but these include:
- Know the start and end time of the off-peak period on your electricity tariff so you can tell if to only charge off-peak. Plug in when you get home, and know that the charger will only start when electricity is cheap, and end before the peak rate kicks in
- Track the carbon intensity of the electricity grid. With some smart chargers, you can set a preference to prioritise charging when the grid is at its cleanest.
Off-peak electricity tariffs can be as cheap as 5p / kWh, compared to typical unit rates of around 16p – 18p / kWh. This means that you can cut your bill by over 70% by using a smart charger to get all of your charging in the cheap hours of the night. This would cut the average driver’s bill from around £350 to £150, saving over £200 per year.
And more good news – the electricity grid is cleanest during the nighttime hours, when most power comes from either wind or nuclear. On average, it’s 25% cleaner during the night than during the evening in the UK. So, smart charging will cut your carbon too.
