Electric car running costs: a subscriber’s findings

Here’s the scenario: you’re seriously considering switching to an electric car but you’ve read up that it’s not actually that much cheaper than running your old petrol or diesel one. You want to do your bit for the planet but are highly aware that, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and with energy prices rising, it’s important to keep on top of your finances. This often comes up when people come to us for an EV on subscription.

So, in this blog, we’ll be sharing with you the findings of Alan from Andover, who subscribed to a Honda e Advance with us earlier this year. Alan very kindly sent us his thoughts on living with a Honda e, and a comprehensive breakdown of one month’s worth of electric car running costs, with both a mixture of home, work and public charging.

We’ll be using his findings to show you a genuine insight into how running an electric car on subscription could save you money. 

How much does it cost to charge an electric car? 

Alan documented every day, for a whole month, his charging habits and costs when living with a Honda e. 

Here are the headlines: 

Alan sent us a very detailed breakdown with each individual charge he made (it’s quite the meticulous spreadsheet!). 

To summarise: 

• Alan charged the car 27 times in that one month by utilising the free charging he had access to at work (if it’s free, you may as well use it!). 
• He charged at a supermarket 3 times, adding a total 8.5kWhs charge for free (presumably while he was busy shopping). 
• He spent £16.75 charging the Honda e at home, which (combined with free work charging) gave him over 1000 miles of charge in that one month. 
• He spent £28.41 charging at public chargers, which gave him 202 miles of charge in total. 

Meaning, in total, to drive 1289 miles it cost him just £45.16. 

How do the running costs compare to petrol? 

The cost of running this electric car vs a similarly sized petrol one, here in the UK, that is. We’ve done the maths: 

To travel the equivalent total miles Alan did here in a FIAT 500 Hybrid, 1.0 petrol, would mean burning approximately 110 litres of fuel. That’s just over 3 full tanks, as a FIAT 500 Hybrid has a 35L fuel tank. 

With petrol prices averaging £1.65 per litre as of 01^st November 2022, that would mean the fuel required to travel the same 1289 miles in said equivalent sized petrol car would have cost Alan £181.50 – nearly four times more than charging his electric Honda e! And that’s on the basis the FIAT averages 53mpg the entire time, which is no mean feat even in a small city car.

Of course, we’re well aware that a lot of Alan’s charges were free at work or at a supermarket. Not everyone has the luxury of charging for free at work. But, even if he relied on home/public charging more, we’re confident it still would’ve worked out cheaper than running the petrol car example above. 

What’s it like living with a Honda e?

Alan was kind enough to leave some comments about his experience living with a Honda e.

Here are a few of his thoughts: 

We understand the smaller range and higher price for all the quirky tech may mean the Honda e isn’t the right electric car for Alan. But, what an electric car subscription showed him (and is showing others!) is that living with an electric car is perfectly doable, with some extra planning, and can be an awful lot cheaper if you’re smart with your charging.

We want to say a huge thank you to Alan for jotting down his experience and sending it over to us – it’s a great insight into living with an EV. We really appreciate it.

Want to try living with an electric car for yourself?

Get one on an all-inclusive elmo subscription or find out whether an EV would suit your lifestyle using our suitability tool.