Thread by @colinwalker79

OK - the @sun published a comment piece by Ross Clark today.

It made a couple of statements about #ElectricCars that aren't quite right - so here's a thread that offers come corrections.

ok, first up, this statement: "An electric car...at current electricity prices, will cost you more to run even before you take into account the fact that electric cars are very lightly taxed in comparison".

Well, not really, here's why...

70% of drivers have access to off-street parking – this enables the majority of the UK’s drivers to access the cheap EV charging tariffs provided by a number of energy suppliers

Eg - @OctopusEV's Intelligent Tariff allows people to charge their EVs for as little as 7.5p/kWh

This enables a Nissan Leaf to be driven for as little as 1.75p per mile, compared to 13.4p per mile for an equivalent petrol Nissan Juke. Doing 8,000 miles a year, the driver of a Nissan Leaf would spend over £930 less on fuel than the driver of the Nissan Juke.

People might say that that's unrealistic, but there are plenty of EV owners out there who regularly report only ever charging their cars at home on these cheap tarrifs.

That leaves 30% of drivers who are unable to charge their cars at home do need to rely on more expensive public charging points. This is a problem, and needs addressing.

For example, the Government could reduce bring VAT on public charging down from 20% to 5% (in line with VAT on electricity at home, as is being called for by @QuentinWillson and @fairchargeuk)

And councils could make it easier for people in terraced houses to install handy little slots in the pavement through which cables could be run from the house to the EV without getting in the way of other pavement users (a service offered by companies like @kerbocharge)

but anyways, for those that have to use public chargers, EVs remain cheaper to fuel than a petrol equivalent

Ubitricity (who do those lamppost chargers) charges 40p/kWh. In this scenario, a Nissan Leaf would cost 9.3p per mile – still less than the cost of the Nissan Juke.

The only occasions in which the cost of fuelling an EV can exceed the cost of fuelling an equivalent petrol vehicle is if all the EV’s charge was taken at expensive motorway-based rapid chargers.

The @TheRAC_UK states that the current average price of an ultra-rapid charger is 74.2p/kWh. In this scenario, a Nissan Leaf costs 17.3p per mile – which exceeds the 13.4p per mile cost of the petrol Nissan Juke.

But there are a couple of things to bear in mind here...

Firstly, the notion that such a charging scenario is common is unrealistic. 99% of the UK’s car journeys are under 100 miles – well within the range of modern EVs.

Very few of these journeys will require ‘topping up’ at an expensive motorway rapid-chargers.

Secondly, electricity prices are at unprecedented highs.

They are forecast to come down significantly in the years ahead, whislt petrol prices are likely to continue steadily rising (as they have done over the past 20 years)

This means EVs will get cheaper to run over time, whilst petrol cars will get more expensive to run.

The gap between EVs and petrol cars is just going to get bigger and bigger.

And finally (for this bit anyway), the EVs are very lightly taxed point. This is true. But that's changing - as of 2025, EVs will be charged £165 a year in Vehicle Excise Duty (like everybody else).

For someone driving 8,000 miles a year, this equates to an extra 2.1p per mile - an insufficient amount to alter the reality that, in the vast majority of driving and charging scenarios, EVs will remain cheaper to fuel than their petrol counterparts.

Right, next up: 'manufacturing an electric car involves substantially more emissions than making a petrol or diesel car, thanks to their batteries requiring large quantities of rare metals.'

This fails to consider the total lifetime emissions of an EV over a petrol equivalent

Yes, the initial construction of an EV releases more CO2 into the atmosphere than the construction of a petrol vehicle,

BUT - fuelling an EV produces considerably less CO2 over the course of its lifetime than a petrol equivalent.

In fact, analysis by @CarbonBrief has found that replacing a petrol car with an EV cuts planet-warming emissions by two-thirds.

carbonbrief.org/factcheck-how-…

These findings were reiterated by the Government this year in which they said: 'BEVs are expected to reduce GHG emissions by 65% compared to a petrol car today, and this rises to 76% by 2030.”

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

As battery technology develops and the benefits of mass production become more significant, the CO2 emissions from EV construction will fall.

So too will the emissions from the electricity that EVs use to fuel themselves as renewable sources make up an ever increasing share of our generation mix.

This means that the emission savings of running EVs over petrol vehicles will get greater over time.