By moving the slider, tell us how many miles you drive a year to find out typical annual fuel savings if you switch from petrol/diesel to an all-electric car and charge at home on the new capped, government Energy Price Guarantee from 1^st October 2022:

Annual Mileage

I drive 0 Miles per year

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Estimated yearly fuel savings in an electric car

Petrol/Diesel*

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Cost estimate per year

£0 / litre

Electric*

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Cost estimate per year

p / kWh

Want to know more about going electric?

Phone us now on 0118 3048 688

or email one of our expert leasing consultants at enquiries@selectcarleasing.co.uk

Electricity and Fuel Cost Per Mile Analysis

Below are typical fuel costs per mile for EVs and standard petrol and diesel cars.

We display both the 34p Energy Price Guarantee rate from our calculator above (applied 24 hours a day, if you're on a standard variable tariff), together with an example off-peak home electricity rate of 7.5p (available at time of writing on 3 October 2022).

The table shows how even greater savings are possible when charging off-peak:

	Cost per Mile	Vehicle Efficiency	Fuel Cost
Electric Car – Off-peak	2.1p	3.5 miles per kWh	7.5p per kWh
Electric Car – Energy Price Guarantee	9.7p	3.5 miles per kWh	34p per kWh
Diesel Car	19.0p	43 mpg	£1.80 per litre
Petrol Car	20.6p	36 mpg	£1.63 per litre

Understanding how much petrol / diesel is per mile illustrates how the electric vs petrol / diesel car comparison favours electric, especially when charging off-peak.

Why Are The Savings So Big?

Our Fuel Cost Calculator summarises how much you can save, on average, when you compare traditional fuel vs electric cars. The secret behind the savings is as follows:

The fuel cost per mile in petrol and diesel cars is high. Why? For two reasons:

Fuel prices at UK pumps are generally quite high – especially at the moment.
Internal combustion engine vehicles are not very efficient at converting fuel into forward motion.

By contrast, the fuel cost per mile in an electric car is low if you charge at home. The main reasons for this are:

Home electricity prices have been capped at 34p per kWh since 1^st October 2022.
Even lower off-peak rates are available if you switch energy provider and/or tariff.
Electric cars – with their batteries and electric motors – are very efficient at using electricity to make the car go forwards.

What Is The Energy Price Guarantee?

The Energy Price Guarantee was brought in by the government on 1^st October 2022. It was introduced in order to protect people from very high wholesale gas and electricity prices.

For a 2-year period, for every unit (kWh) of electricity you use at home, your energy provider cannot charge you more than 34p. For gas, the rate is capped at 10.3p per kWh. Both of these capped rates are averages – there are regional differences and you may be charged a little more or a little less, depending on where you live.

The Energy Price Guarantee applies to standard variable tariffs. Most of the UK population are now on standard variable tariffs. If you are on a fixed tariff, the way the guarantee applies is more complex. Read the government's Energy Bills Support Factsheet for full details of how the scheme works.

Why Are Fuel Prices So High?

Fuel prices at UK pumps have gone through the roof this year, though they are stabilising a little now.

What's going on? The high cost of fuel – likely to persist into next year – is mainly down to the following reasons:

The price of crude oil – the raw material that petrol and diesel comes from – has gone up sharply, as supply has failed to keep up with demand.
Oil is paid for in US Dollars, and, as the Pound has weakened against the Dollar recently, it's costing us even more in the UK than it did before for the same quantity of oil.

It's also possible that on occasion petrol and diesel retailers may not react very quickly to a decrease in the cost of oil. In other words, the retailer might make a higher profit on a litre of fuel by not passing on a saving in the wholesale price to their customers immediately.

Fuel Cost Calculator FAQs

Our calculator takes your annual mileage figure and then applies it as follows (assume you drive 7,000 miles a year):

For electric cars: to cover 7,000 miles a year, in an EV with average efficiency of 3.5 miles per kWh, you need 2,000 units (kWh) of electricity. The maths is: 7,000 divided by 3.5 = 2,000. Charging at home off-peak at 7.5p per kWh will cost you £150 a year.

For petrol/diesel cars: we assume an average engine efficiency of 39.5 mpg and an average fuel price of £1.7149 per litre. To cover the same 7,000 miles, you need 805.64 litres of fuel which will cost you £1,382 per year.

We use the average of the latest diesel cost per litre and petrol cost per litre nationwide (fuel data sourced from the RAC).

We update our fuel cost calculator at least every month with the latest fuel prices.

For the standard rate in the main calculator, we use the official government-backed Energy Price Guarantee rate of 34p per kWh. This has been in force since 1^st October 2022 and applies to all standard variable home electricity tariffs.

For the off-peak rate in the calculator, we use an actual rate from one of the leading dual rate tariff providers in the UK.

Some public charging points are free to use. For example, at Tesco you can often charge for free while you shop.

However, to use the more advanced, faster public chargers – known as ‘rapid’ chargers – you nearly always have to pay. Rates typically vary from about 30p per kWh to as much as 70p per kWh.

If you only use rapid chargers occasionally, you will still save a lot of money by switching to electric motoring.

If you do most of your charging at rapid charging stations, then your savings will be much less and it might even be cheaper in a petrol or diesel car, depending on what kWh rate you pay.

Yes, we update all the fuel and electricity price assumptions once a month at the latest. The Fuel Cost Calculator should therefore give you a fairly accurate average savings result, though regional and supplier differences will change the result in specific situations.

Next Steps

If you are considering electric for your next car, get in touch with us now on 0118 3048 688 or email enquiries@selectcarleasing.co.uk

Alternatively, check out our handy EV Guides or browse our latest Electric & Hybrid lease deals below:

Guide

Electric Vehicle Charging Points

If you do get an EV and have off-street parking, you will want to have a dedicated charging point installed. This allows you to charge quickly and safely. Browse our range of EV chargers, all available at excellent prices with nationwide installation.

Guide

Understanding Electric Vehicle Range

Do you have range anxiety? Worried you might not reach your destination in an all-electric car before the battery runs flat? In this detailed guide, we explain the difference between WLTP and real-world range, how to extend range, etc.

Guide

Browse Guides to Electric Motoring

To support our fantastic EV lease deals, we have a wide-ranging set of guides to answer all your electric questions. We cover topics like range, charging, what are BEVs, PHEVs and HEVs, electrifying your fleet, and much more.