I bought an EV to save money but it’s costing me HUNDREDS more than running a

An eco-conscious motorist who recently replaced his diesel car with an EV hoping it would reduce his impact on the environment as well as lower his bills says he is being blocked from potential savings by his local council.

Kristian Lewin-Petrov, 45, from York, does not have a driveway at his home but purchased an electric Skoda Enyaq SUV believing he could run a charging cable from his house to the roadside.

But he says his local council has refused him having a charging cable gully recessed into the footpath outside his home on health and safety grounds, forcing him to instead use the public charging network, which is typically twice as expensive as plugging in at home.

Being pushed to use more expensive public charging has cost £100 more than filling up his old diesel car to cover the same mileage over three weeks, he said.

Mr Lewin-Petrov’s complaints come as statistics show a significant electric vehicle ownership imbalance in Britain based on whether people have off-street parking or not – an issue that threatens to derail the Government’s Net Zero ambitions. 

On Wednesday, ministers announced new plans to make electric cars accessible to more households in Britain to tackle the problem head on.

This includes removing the need for EV owners to apply for planning permission to run a charging cable gully through pavements.

According to the Department for Transport’s EV Driver Tracker report, nine in ten (91 per cent) of current electric car owners in the UK have access to charging at home. 

And three quarters of them have a driveway, garage or dedicated parking space where they have an EV-charging wallbox installed.

Homeowners without driveways, which accounts for around 10 million flats and terraced houses, are typically unable to have a home charger fitted at their property.

As a result, these motorists are forced to rely on the public network of chargers, which are double – if not three times – more expensive to use than a domestic tariff.

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According to the latest AA Recharge Report for September, the average cost per mile to charge an EV at home using a domestic tariff is 5.88p per mile.

However, for those without off-road parking facilities, the cheapest option – using a public slow charger offering speeds of up to 8kW – is 11.3p per mile, almost double that of plugging in at home.

And for EV owners without driveways who can access a ‘fast’ charger (9kW to 49kW), the average cost per mile increases to 13.79p. 

Most expensive of all are ultra-rapid chargers – 150kW-plus devices typically found at motorway service stations – at 17.63p, which is more than three times the cost of charging domestically.

The cost deficit is partly due to higher taxation on public charging at 20 per cent, compared to just 5 per cent VAT levied on those who can plug in at home. 

The AA’s calculations show that filling up with petrol and diesel is a more affordable option than having to rely on the public EV charging network.

Even with a monthly increase in fuel prices last month, the pence per mile cost for a petrol car is 11.82p, while diesel is cheaper at 10.18p. 

Mr Lewin-Petrov is seeing the higher cost of running an EV first hand, saying he’s spent almost £200 recharging his Skoda using public devices having been blocked from installing a cross-pavement charging solution outside his home.

He said: ‘I live in a terraced home without a driveway. 

‘I approached the council about a new technology that would allow me to charge my car from home – saving a considerable amount of money and time.’