The Cost of Electricity for a Car

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The photo was taken just before yesterdays and shows lock 15E of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in the distance. I sat there for thirty minutes or so reading a book in the early morning sunshine. It was very pleasant.

Yesterday I was talking about our old Octavia and the problems of buying a new car, which we probably won’t.

But if we did, an electric car might be better because I no longer drive long distances. However, there is a big, big problem with the cost of electricity.

We live in a terraced house without a driveway, so we cannot charge the car at home, we would have to pay commercial rates and twenty percent VAT.

People who have driveways can park their car off road. They can also charge their cars off their home electric supply, which is cheaper, and the VAT is only five percent. If you have a smart meter, you can charge the car in the early hours of the morning when the home electricity is at its cheapest.

Clearly this is not fair. With petrol and diesel there is no reduction for where you live (apart from cost variations in petrol stations, but you do have the choice of going to the cheapest one). This should be the same for electric cars. Everyone should be paying the same price. Especially tax.

If you can’t park your car on a driveway, you also need to do special trips to charge it. When parked on a driveway it will almost certainly be fully charged (or have enough charge) when you need it.

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