Today, people are more conscious than ever about how their lifestyle choices affect the planet – and their pocket. One of the most popular courses of action has been for people to explore more energy-efficient ways of living, both at home and out on the road, many of which come with the added bonus of saving money as well as the environment.
Put simply, switching to an electric vehicle and charging it at home can be a great way of saving money on your yearly motoring costs, especially if you’re still driving around in a big gas-guzzler. Not only can it put money back in your pocket that you would otherwise have spent on costly fuel, but a home EV charging station can add to your finances in other ways, too, such as by adding value to your home (more on which later).
But how much can you save with an EV and a home charging station?
Let’s look at an example
OK, so you’re finally ready to switch to an EV and ditch your old diesel (or petrol) motor. But how much could you really save by doing so? We’ve used the calculator on our homepage to put together the following example. Say that you currently own a large diesel car and you run it for 15,000 miles a year, taking into account commuting and social use. Based on averages drawn in from Autocar and MoneySavingExpert, we calculate that you could save more than £3,000 every year by making the switch (£3,127.04 to be exact)! The other factors we use to determine this are the cost of electricity per kWh and EV mileage per kWh. With green energy getting cheaper all the time, your savings could grow over time.
How else can it help?
It is commonly held that having a parking space at your home adds at least 5% to its value. Now imagine what a parking space with an EV charging station included would add. More than just the nominal 5%, you’d expect. If we take a really conservative estimate of 7%, you could add up to a massive £17,360 to the value of your home. The installation of home EV charging stations costs FAR, FAR less than this, so it’s an investment you may want to consider, especially if you are thinking about potentially selling your home in the next couple of years. With electric car ownership rising all the time, but the UK’s charging infrastructure lagging behind demand, houses with their own EV charging point already installed will demand even more of a premium in the not-too-distant future.
Want to see for yourself how much you can save by switching to an EV and charging at home? Head to our homepage and scroll down to the bottom to use our calculator. There you can put in your own mpg and mileage stats and get your own personal savings estimate. Try it now and see how much you could save!