Is it worth buying an electric car?

If you are worried about this, there are a few ways to extend – or make the most use of – the range of the car:

• Drive smoothly – a heavy foot and late braking can take a toll on the battery. EVs accelerate faster than petrol cars, so while it can be tempting, heavy acceleration and late braking can knock miles off your charge.

• Use 'regenerative braking' to recover the electricity from braking. Regenerative braking takes wasted energy from braking and uses it to recharge the car's battery. It kicks in when you lift your foot off the accelerator, slowing the car and recovering a portion of the energy lost in this process.

  EVs use this method as well as traditional brake pads to slow the car. Using the brake pads won't let you recover any energy, so limiting (safely) when you need to brake firmly can help extend your range.

• In very hot or cold weather, set your preferred temperature before you set off. Air-con and heating can be a big drain on EV batteries, but the advantage of EVs is that many let you pre-programme temperature settings via a mobile app. So when it's freezing cold or boiling hot, it's best to set your car to your preferred temperature before you set off, while the car is still charging.
  
  Heated seats use less energy compared to pumping warm air all around your car, so try to opt for this when it's cold.

• Plan the most efficient route – motorways and dual carriageways can drain your battery quicker. Most sat-navs let you find the most efficient route to your destination – and while that may mean it'll take longer to get there, you'll go further on a charge and won't have to stop for an hour or two to top up.

On 16 July 2025, the Government launched a new Electric Car Grant (ECG), which offers grants of either £1,500 or £3,750 as a discount off the purchase price of some new electric vehicles. To be eligible for the grant, the purchase price of the EV must be £37,000 or less, and it must meet certain sustainability criteria.

You don't need to do anything to get the grant, car manufacturers will apply for it and take it off the car's list price. The Government has published a list of which cars get will get a grant, which is updated as more cars become eligible.

If you're buying a used EV, look for a retailer certified by the Electric Vehicle Approved scheme.
This scheme allows individual locations to certify their knowledge of EVs. It's operated by the National Franchised Dealers' Association, and is approved by the Energy Saving Trust and the Government's Office for Zero Emission Vehicles.

See our car finance guides to help you find the best way to buy your new car.

If you're buying a used EV and it doesn't come with its original charging cable, you should buy one from a reputable seller or directly from the manufacturer, to ensure it meets UK safety standards.

Online third-party websites aren't legally obliged to check the safety of the products they sell in the same way as high street retailers, so it can be easy for these sellers to offer sub-standard products, which could be potentially dangerous. So make sure you do your research about what is the right charging cable for your EV and where is the best place to get one.

Installing a dedicated home EV charger can cost about £500 to £1,000, but if you rent your home, or own the flat you live in, you can get up to 75% (maximum £350 including VAT) towards the cost of a charge point, under the Government's EV chargepoint grant. Funding has only been confirmed until 31 March 2026.

You must have access to adequate private off-street parking and you'll need an installer that's approved under the grant – they'll simply apply on your behalf. You can find an approved installer on the Gov.uk website. Alternatively, you can ask your landlord to apply on your behalf.

It's not recommended to use a standard household three-pin socket to charge an EV as it's incredibly inefficient and there are safety issues. Charging a typical 40 kilowatt-hour EV battery could take as long as 17 hours.

If you do need to though, the charity Electrical Safety First have some safety tips:

• Don't use a domestic multi-socket extension lead. Only ever use one suitable for outdoor use.

• Don't plug more than one extension lead into another for greater distance. It increases the risk of an electric fire and electric shock.

• Always buy the charging cable from a reputable seller or from the manufacturer to ensure it meets UK safety standards.

According to Zap-Map, there are about 1,800 free charge points in the UK, though most of these are slow chargers. To find a free one, use Zap-Map (or its app), filter by payment method and select "Free to use".

Always check the price before using a charging point – some retailers that previously offered free charging, including Ikea, Lidl and Tesco, now charge a fee.

There are more than 30 different networks that own and operate charge points across the UK. Some require you to download a mobile app, while a small number require an RFID card (radio-frequency identification).

Alternatively, Octopus Electroverse is a free to use app, showing live availability and pricing of thousands of different network chargers across the UK and Europe. The rates you see are set by the charge point operators, but Octopus does occasionally offer discounts on these. You can also plan charging routes to any destination through the app.

If you’re with Octopus for your home energy supply, you can choose to add your public charging costs to your home electricity bill. Plus, Octopus Go and Intelligent Octopus Go customers get up to 8% discount off all public charging through Electroverse.

The most expensive public charge points - which can be as much as 85p/kWh - are more than three times the price of electricity charged under the Price Cap (currently 26p per kilowatt hour on average) - and even more so compared to some fixed energy deals and specialist EV tariffs, which charge as little as 7p/kWh. Generally speaking, the faster the charger, the more you'll pay.

All charging points must clearly display the maximum price (in pence per kilowatt hour) of a charging session, including any connection or other fees. But prices can vary massively between networks, so always remember to check before you plug in – they all provide online maps to help you find the right one.

The time it takes to charge your car on public charge points depends on the type of charger you use – these are generally grouped into four categories:

• Slow chargers (three to five kW). Takes about 11 hours to charge a 40kWh battery from empty to full.

• Fast chargers (seven to 22kW). Takes about six hours to charge a 40kWh battery from empty to full.

• Rapid chargers (25 to 99kW). Takes about an hour to charge a 40kWh battery.

• Ultra-rapid chargers (100kW+). Not all cars can use these fully (you should be able to plug yours in, but you'd only get the maximum amount your car can handle). Charging times are under an hour, typically about 20-40 minutes.

Fast charges are the most common by far, but more and more of all types of chargers are being installed every year.

To calculate the cost per mile of an EV you need to divide your cost per kWh by your miles per kWh.

Cost per kWh: This is the price you pay to charge your EV. Check your electricity bill or tariff to find your price per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

Miles per kWh: You can usually find your car's official efficiency rating in its manual. If you don't have the official figure, use an average for similar vehicles. For example, a small car might get 4.5 miles per kWh, a medium car 4 miles, and a large car 3.5 miles.

Remember that driving conditions, speed, weather, and temperature can all affect your car's real-world efficiency, so this is just to give you a ballpark figure.

Example:

Electricity cost: 26.35p/kWh
Car's efficiency: 4 miles/kWh

Cost per mile: 26.35 / 4 = 6.59 pence per mile

For plug-in hybrids, it's likely you'll pay some car tax – though usually at a reduced rate compared with traditional vehicles. Depending on the emissions of the car and its age, you could expect to pay up to £195 a year. Hybrids are also liable to pay the 'expensive-car tax' –  (£425 from 1 April) a year for five years if your car cost £40,000 or more when new (if registered after 1 April 2017). The expensive car tax will be applicable to list prices of £50,000 or more from 1 April 2026. To check, the Government has a calculator for car tax for new cars and used cars.

If you choose to buy a second-hand hybrid car, make sure to find out whether the car is subject to the 'expensive car supplement', as it could add hundreds to your annual car tax bill. The best way to check is through the Gov.uk tax checker but you'll need to ask the seller for the 11-digit reference number from the vehicle log book (V5C), as well the full registration number.

This will also need to be a consideration if buying a used EV that was first registered after 1 April 2025.

From January 2, 2026, electric vehicles will have to pay the London Congestion Charge, as the previous Cleaner Vehicle Discount 100% exemption is being scrapped. EVs registered for Auto Pay will pay £13.50 a day (75% of the daily £18 charge).

To help preserve your battery in the long run, it's generally recommended to avoid repeatedly fully draining the battery and then charging the car to 100%. This cycle of draining and fully charging can lead the battery to degrade quicker, reducing your range.

Manufacturers generally recommend charging to only 80% and never letting the range drop to zero miles (or ideally not going much below 20%). 

It's also worth mentioning that frequent rapid charging can cause the battery to degrade quicker over time, as these connections make the battery much hotter than fast or slow charging.

Some newer batteries in certain Tesla and BYD models don't require you to do this, and are fine being charged to 100%. So make sure you check with your car manufacturer what's the best way to look after your EV battery.

On some models of EVs you had the option to buy the whole car, including battery, or lease the battery and buy the rest of the car. Battery leasing was popular in the early days of EVs, when there were concerns about how long the batteries would last and the cost of replacing them.

With battery leasing, you'd pay slightly less upfront, then about £50 to £100 a month to the manufacturer, which would continue to own the battery and would replace it if it failed.

The concerns about batteries proved to be relatively unfounded, as they tend to last about 10 to 20 years, or about 200,000 miles, before they need to be replaced. As a result, most manufacturers dropped battery leasing as an option.

That means battery leasing is usually only an issue if you bought an EV early on, or if you're buying second-hand.

Extended warranties – also known as aftermarket warranties, bought from third-party providers – are a fairly new thing for EVs, at least ones that will cover the battery as well. These warranties, which will cover the cost of expensive parts in case of a technical failure, have only really been available for EVs in the last few years, but some providers – such as Warrantywise and MotorEasy – will now cover EVs and their batteries.

The extent of the cover is often dependent on a vehicle check, and what you pay will depend on age, mileage and type of car.