Where to Charge an Electric car
Unlike Petrol and Diesel vehicles, you can charge an Electric car at a wide variety of locations. There are now far more charging points than Petrol stations. Consider the options below on where to charge an electric car.
If you have a driveway a Home charger is the obvious and cheapest option. Again, unlike Petrol or Diesel don’t assume that you should fully charge. You can just top up as required and, unlike Petrol or Diesel, you don’t have to wait with the vehicle.
Home charging
Home charging is the cheapest way to charge. It’s part of your domestic electricity, typically a quarter of the price of petrol or diesel fuel. However, by choosing the right tariff, it can be very cheap indeed.
Neighbour charging
If you don’t have access to your own charger you may be able to book time on a neighbour’s charger. Check Co Charger or Just Park for local neighbours who are willing to share their charger. This will be slightly more expensive to use than having your own charger.
On-Street charging
Your local council may provide charging facilities, prices will vary. Check Google maps to identify locations.
Retail locations
Many places, such as supermarkets and pubs, will tend to provide free charging to gain your custom. However faster charging is likely to incur a cost.
Charging en-route
Charging mid-journey costs vary significantly, much more so than petrol or diesel do. As ever, motorway services can be expected to be the most expensive. Ecotricity has a reputation for being both expensive and unreliable however, Ecotricity has now taken over by Gridserve so should be a lot better with more and more reliable chargers.
Charge level
However, there is no need to fully charge and, given how long the last 20% takes and now most can charge at home, there is no need to.
Destination Charging
Destinations such as Hotels are having chargers installed, however many currently only have one or two so. Organisations such as the National Trust are putting large numbers of chargers in their car parks.
If your destination doesn’t have a charger why not use someone’s driveway? Services such as Co charger and Just Park offer bookable spaces.
Airports
See the list of airports with charging facilities and make a booking.
