Based on how many battery electric vehicles (BEV) are licensed on British roads this year, an estimated £153million can be saved collectively on recharging electric vehicles instead of filling up with petrol. According to a 2021 YouGov survey, 26 percent of UK motorists cite the initial cost of purchasing electric vehicles as the main reason for not switching from a petrol or diesel vehicle.
However, improvements in technology performance and cost reductions have continued to the point where a driver now has the potential to spend less money over a vehicle’s lifetime by choosing to drive electric.
The average British motorist can save £744 per year on recharging an electric car compared to refuelling a petrol car.
This breaks down to £1,023 for Scottish BEV owners, £746 per year for Welsh BEV motorists, and £702 per year for English BEV motorists.
EV owners in Britain stand to make collective savings of £153,485,620 per year.
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This can be broken down to £134,867,109 collectively for English BEV motorists, £15,154,563 for Scottish BEV motorists, and £3,463,948 for Welsh BEV motorists.
The data, from Mercedes-Benz, found the South East to have the highest total yearly saving with a staggering £39.3million.
This almost doubled the second place, the South West, who could see a total saving of £21million.
All but two regions in England – the East Midlands and the North East – saw potential savings of at least £10million by switching from petrol vehicles to EVs.
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Despite this, the average motorist in the North East is saving £882 on recharging their cars every year – the highest savings per motorist in any of England’s regions.
This was measured by comparing the average cost of charging an EV locally with the average cost of refuelling an industry standard petrol vehicle.
Generally, all EV drivers see an average yearly saving of at least £700, with the exception of the East Midlands with £683 in savings and London at a much lower saving level of £506.
This is also reflected by the local authorities who save the least money, with eight of the 10 lowest average saving areas being in London.
Camden residents with an EV would see a yearly saving of just £111, with Merton, Kensington and Chelsea and Wandsworth following closely with savings of less than £175 a year.
The two non-London local authorities with the lowest average annual saving are South Derbyshire with a saving of £267 and Adur in West Sussex with savings of £275.
The local authority with the highest yearly average saving is the Shetland Islands, with a massive saving of £1,177 for charging an EV compared to a petrol vehicle.
Scottish and Welsh local authority areas dominate the top 10 ranking thanks to the average costs of their public charging stations.
The only local authority in England that appears is South Holland in the Yorkshire and the Humber region, with a very respectable yearly saving of £1,113.
All of the top 10 local authorities for the highest average yearly saving saw “profits” of at least £1,086.
This comes as Ofgem announced its plans for the future of EV charging infrastructure in the UK.
The energy regulator will be looking to make easier network connections for chargers, as well as maximising smart charging benefits for the driver.
Average Yearly Saving (EV vs Petrol) by region
North East – £882
East of England – £784
South East – £768
South West – £754
Yorkshire and The Humber – £749
West Midlands – £727
North West – £717
East Midlands – £683
London – £506