Electric vans cheaper to run than diesels despite energy price hikes

Date: Thursday, February 2, 2023 | Author: James Dallas

Running an electric van offers considerable savings compared to an equivalent diesel model despite the rise in energy costs, according to the Mina EV Report for Autumn 2022.

The EV charging platform says that based on both home and public charging, the overall cost of charging an electric van in pence per mile (ppm) in Autumn 2022 was 13ppm, a rise of 2ppm compared to the summer. Over 1,000 miles this works out at a cost of £130. Mina claims fuelling a diesel van averaging 40mpg over the same distance at the UK average of 188p per litre (according to Allstar) would cost £213, an increase of £83 over the electric van.

Mina recorded sharp differences in the costs of home and public charging for vans with the former averaging 12ppm and the latter coming in at 28ppm. It says the cost of public charging is driven up by rapid DC public charging networks incurring higher infrastructure and energy costs than home or public AC points and by the fact that the price of public charging is not capped, unlike home electricity, so providers pass the premium on to customers. Mina says charge point providers have also been subjected to increased business rates and inflationary factors such as rising maintenance costs and interest rates.

With public charging costs outstripping home tariffs, Mina CEO Ashley Tate said: “For van operators the decision is stark, make sure you can plug in at home or use cheaper, slower chargers.

He added: “Home charging for vans is incredibly good value. Over the course of a year, a 1,000 mile a month driver would save £930 over a diesel equivalent.”

With most drivers undertaking the majority (92%) of charging at home, according to Mina, and only using public chargers for top ups, Tate said: “The claims that the cost of running an EV is now matching, or costs more, than petrol and diesel, is just not accurate when you look at how people really charge.”

Although Mina argues home charging represents good value, it says the government’s Advisory Electricity Rate (AER) for business mileage reimbursement remains insufficient despite the rise to 8ppm from 5ppm in the autumn, with 80% of journeys charged at home (and 100% of public charges) costing more than the AER.

With the cost of electricity rising during the winter, Mina forecasts the proportion of journeys costing above 8ppm will return to the 90%-plus level recorded when the AER was 5ppm.

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