What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
For most UK commuters, a battery-electric car charged mainly at home has the lowest energy cost per mile. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) advisory rates effective 1 September 2026 put home charging at 7p per mile, compared with 15p for public slow or fast charging and 14p–27p for petrol cars depending on engine size. A hybrid cannot be assigned one universal figure: its result depends on the model’s fuel consumption, route and, for a plug-in hybrid, how often it is charged.
Those figures cover fuel or electricity only. They do not prove which vehicle is cheapest to buy, insure, tax, maintain or depreciate. To choose for your commute, calculate the cost per mile for the exact cars, tariffs and charging pattern you would use.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
The current UK energy-cost comparison
HMRC reviews its advisory fuel rates quarterly, on 1 March, 1 June, 1 September and 1 December. The following rates apply from 1 September 2026 and are standardised averages rather than a quote for an individual vehicle.
| Powertrain or charging method | Advisory cost | What the figure represents |
|---|---|---|
| Battery-electric car, home charging | 7p per mile | HMRC weighted electric efficiency of 3.59 miles/kWh and a home electricity input of 24.47p/kWh |
| Battery-electric car, public slow or fast charging | 15p per mile | The same weighted efficiency and a public slow/fast charging input of 54.00p/kWh |
| Petrol car up to 1,400cc | 14p per mile | HMRC advisory petrol band |
| Petrol car 1,401–2,000cc | 17p per mile | HMRC advisory petrol band |
| Petrol car above 2,000cc | 27p per mile | HMRC advisory petrol band |
| Hybrid or plug-in hybrid | Not one fixed rate | HMRC treats hybrids as petrol or diesel cars for advisory fuel rates; use the specific car’s consumption and your actual fuel cost |
At the stated assumptions, the electric calculations are 6.81p per mile at home and 15.02p on public slow or fast chargers, rounded to 7p and 15p. Public charging therefore removes much of the energy-cost advantage over a small petrol car, while home charging preserves it.
#1 Best Overall
- Charge with Confidence: ChargePoint builds reliable, flexible EV charging stations for home, business, and fleets. Get 24/7 support and access to hundreds of thousands of North American charging locations.
- Charge Smart: With the user-friendly ChargePoint Mobile App, you can control your electric car charger, manage reminders, connect to smart home devices, find stations, get data and charging info, and access the latest features. Note: WiFi is needed for certain functionalities and troubleshooting steps if connectivity issues arise.
- Vast Network: Wherever you go, ChargePoint’s network includes 274k+ stations across North America and Europe and 565k+ roaming partner stations.
- Safe & Durable: Rely on this UL-certified EV charger for safe home charging. It can be installed indoors or outdoors by an electrician and includes a cold-resistant cable.
- Fast & Powerful: This EV charger charges 9× faster than a 120V outlet, delivering up to 45 mi/hr., dependent upon your vehicle. It features a J1772 connector for all non-Tesla EVs and requires a 20A or 80A circuit. For Tesla EVs, this will require an adapter.
HMRC’s wording is explicit: “Hybrid cars are treated as either petrol or diesel cars for advisory fuel rates.” That is why a hybrid row with a single universal number would be misleading.
What “cheapest to run” includes in this comparison
This article compares the energy needed to travel your commute. It does not establish total cost of ownership. Purchase price, finance interest, vehicle tax, insurance, servicing, tyres, repairs, charging equipment and depreciation can outweigh fuel savings, especially over a short annual mileage or when comparing cars with very different prices.
Keep the comparison on the same basis: the same commute distance, the same number of commuting days, the same vehicle condition and a clear split between home and public charging. If you want a whole-life answer, add those ownership costs separately rather than treating the HMRC rates as a complete running-cost forecast.
Crashes, No Sound, or Screen Glitches?
Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteWindows Errors? Fix Them Before They Spread
Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallHow to calculate your own cost per mile
The Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) method combines a vehicle’s consumption with the energy price. VCA says official figures are intended for comparisons and may not reflect real driving results; prices also vary by time and region.
- Measure the route. Record the actual one-way distance and multiply by two for a return commute. Include detours you routinely make.
- Find the consumption figure. For a petrol or hybrid, use the car’s UK imperial miles-per-gallon (mpg) figure as a starting point. For an EV, use kWh per mile or convert a miles-per-kWh figure.
- Use your prices. Enter the petrol price per litre you actually pay, your home electricity unit rate, and each public-charging tariff. Include the charging split rather than assuming every EV mile is charged at home.
- Calculate the energy cost. For petrol, use
fuel price per litre × 4.546 ÷ mpg. For an EV, usekWh per mile × electricity price per kWh. - Multiply by distance. Apply the resulting cost per mile to the daily, weekly or annual mileage. Keep energy cost separate from ownership costs.
VCA uses the 4.546-litre-per-imperial-gallon conversion. Its electric consumption values come from the vehicle’s Certificate of Conformity, so check that the figure you use belongs to the exact model, battery and wheel configuration.
Worked example using the September 2026 advisory rates
Suppose your round-trip commute is 30 miles. Applying the standardised rates gives the following daily energy costs:
Rank #2
- WORKS WITH EVERY NON-TESLA EV: Standard J1772 connector plugs straight into Ford, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi, Rivian, Lucid and every other EV or plug-in hybrid sold with a J1772 port - no adapter needed. Tesla drivers can charge too, using the J1772 adapter that comes with the car.
- PLUG IN, NO HARDWIRING: Level 2 charger delivers up to 40A to fully charge most EVs overnight. Plugs into a 240V, 4-prong NEMA 14-50 outlet (the RV/range type - NOT a dryer outlet) on a dedicated 50A circuit. The extra-long 25 ft cable easily reaches across a garage or driveway. Before ordering, check your car's port type and that you have the right outlet.
- CONTROL & SAVE FROM YOUR PHONE: A stronger built-in antenna keeps the charger online even in a garage or basement. Use the free app to start/stop charging, set speed (6-40A), get reminders, and track energy use and cost. Schedule off-peak overnight charging to cut your electric bill. Requires 2.4 GHz WiFi.
- SAFETY-CERTIFIED & WEATHERPROOF: Independently tested and certified (UL, ETL, FCC, Energy Star). A fully sealed IP66 / NEMA 4 housing stands up to rain, snow, heat and dust indoors or out, and internal steel shielding protects the electronics for years of reliable use.
- GLOW-IN-THE-DARK HOLSTER: The included high-visibility holster glows in the dark so you can find and dock the plug easily at night. Holds the connector securely when not in use.
| Option | Calculation | 30-mile day |
|---|---|---|
| EV, charged at home | 30 × £0.07 | £2.10 |
| EV, public slow/fast charging | 30 × £0.15 | £4.50 |
| Petrol, up to 1,400cc | 30 × £0.14 | £4.20 |
| Petrol, 1,401–2,000cc | 30 × £0.17 | £5.10 |
| Petrol, above 2,000cc | 30 × £0.27 | £8.10 |
This is an illustration of the rates, not a promise that every car in a band will match them. A 30-mile commute charged partly at home and partly in public will sit between the two EV figures according to the proportion of energy bought at each price.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesHow petrol, hybrid and electric cars differ on a commute
Petrol cars
Petrol is straightforward to price: litres bought multiplied by the price per litre, divided by the miles travelled. Engine-size bands in HMRC’s table provide a consistent benchmark, but two cars with the same engine capacity can consume different amounts because of weight, gearing, aerodynamics, tyres and driving conditions. Stop-start urban traffic, cold starts and short journeys can all worsen real consumption relative to an official test figure.
Conventional (self-charging) hybrids
A conventional hybrid cannot be plugged in. It recovers energy during braking and uses a small battery to support the petrol engine, which can be particularly helpful in slow, congested traffic. Its cost per mile still depends on petrol consumption and the price at the pump. Use the specific model’s tested or observed mpg and your actual petrol price; do not substitute the EV home-charging rate.
Plug-in hybrids
A plug-in hybrid can cover some trips electrically and then use petrol when its battery is depleted. Its commute cost is therefore a blend: electricity for the miles completed from each charge, petrol for the remaining miles, and charging losses reflected in the electricity drawn from the wall. A short commute with reliable overnight charging may use little petrol; a long commute, winter conditions or missed charging can make the result look much more like a petrol car. Calculate both portions rather than relying on a single advertised combined figure.
Battery-electric cars
An EV has no petrol consumption, but the price per mile depends heavily on where it is charged. Home charging at a low unit rate is usually the cheapest energy source. Public slow or fast charging can cost substantially more, and rapid-charging prices may use a different tariff from the HMRC public slow/fast assumption, so check the operator’s current price before planning an all-public routine.
Why home charging changes the answer
Government EV-cost guidance reported that, as of January 2024, home charging cost around 8p per mile compared with 13p–17p for petrol or diesel, while public charging was roughly equivalent to fuelling an equivalent petrol car on average. Those figures are historical context and should not replace the HMRC rates effective from September 2026.
Rank #3
- Charge with Confidence: ChargePoint builds reliable, flexible EV charging stations for home, business, and fleets. Get 24/7 support and access to hundreds of thousands of North American charging locations
- Charge Smart: With the user-friendly ChargePoint Mobile App, you can control your electric car charger, manage reminders, connect to smart home devices, find stations, get data and charging info, and access the latest features
- Vast Network: Wherever you go, ChargePoint’s network includes 274k+ stations across North America and Europe and 565k+ roaming partner stations
- Safe & Durable: Rely on this UL-certified EV charger for safe home charging. It can be installed indoors or outdoors by an electrician and includes a cold-resistant cable
- Fast & Powerful: This EV charger charges 9× faster than a 120V outlet, delivering up to 45 mi/hr., dependent upon your vehicle. It features a J1772 connector for all non-Tesla EVs and plugs into a 240V outlet with a 14-50 receptacle, requiring a 40A or 50A circuit. For Tesla EVs, this will require an adapter
A Department for Transport survey reported in the same guidance found that 93% of surveyed EV and plug-in-hybrid drivers had access to home charging and 90% charged overnight in 2022. Access is not universal, however. If you have suitable off-street parking, a properly installed home charge point can make the low-cost tariff practical; installation requirements, property wiring, parking arrangements and charger compatibility must be checked for your home. If you park on the street, rely on workplace charging or cannot charge overnight, model public prices explicitly.
Household electricity rates also differ from HMRC’s assumption. Ofgem lists an average direct-debit unit rate of 26.32p/kWh for England, Scotland and Wales from 1 October to 31 December 2026. The figure varies by region, payment method and tariff, and a fixed or off-peak tariff may be higher or lower. Enter your own bill rate into the calculation rather than assuming the Ofgem average or HMRC input applies to you.
Official figures versus your real commute
VCA warns that official consumption figures are for comparison and may not reflect real driving results. Your result can move in either direction because of:
- traffic, queues, hills and average speed;
- outside temperature and use of heating or air conditioning;
- vehicle load, roof equipment and tyre pressures;
- driver behaviour, acceleration and braking;
- journey length and the proportion of cold starts;
- for EVs, charging losses between the wall and the battery;
- for hybrids, how often regenerative braking and electric assistance can operate.
Do not apply an unsourced universal percentage adjustment. Instead, track several weeks of actual miles and energy: litres added for a petrol or hybrid, and kWh taken from the meter or charger for an EV. Compare like-for-like seasons where possible, because winter heating and battery performance can change the result.
A practical decision framework
Choose home-charged electric driving when
- Most commuting energy can be bought at home, particularly on a low or off-peak tariff.
- Your daily distance fits comfortably within the car’s usable range without needing expensive public top-ups.
- You can install or reliably access a suitable charger and have predictable overnight parking.
- You are comparing energy cost rather than assuming the cheapest energy option is also the cheapest car to own.
Investigate a conventional hybrid when
- You cannot charge at home and public charging would make an EV’s energy cost close to petrol.
- Your route is stop-start or urban, where regenerative braking can help fuel economy.
- You want petrol-like refuelling flexibility and do not want to plan charging stops.
Investigate a plug-in hybrid when
- Your commute is short enough to complete mostly within the car’s electric range.
- You can charge consistently at home or work.
- You also make longer journeys where a petrol engine avoids relying on public charging.
Choose petrol only after checking the actual numbers
A small, efficient petrol car can beat an EV that is charged exclusively on expensive public tariffs, particularly at low annual mileage. Conversely, a large petrol engine can be far more expensive per mile under HMRC’s above-2,000cc benchmark. Use the exact model’s consumption and your own fuel price before deciding.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Build a commute spreadsheet that stays useful
Create one row per candidate vehicle and columns for:
Rank #4
- [Up to 9x Faster Charging Speed]: Provides up to 46 miles/hour charging speed via hardwired connection (48 amp - up to 9x faster than a standard wall outlet) or up to 38 miles/hour via the NEMA 14-50 plug (40 amp). Professional installation recommended for optimal safety and performance. [Install The Power Outlet Cord]: No smaller than 8AWG if charge 40-48A, we suggest 6AWG cord.(1.The input side is belongs to the electrician electric automobile regulation scope, need to use three 6AWG cable wires for 48A; 2.The charging cable belongs to the automotive connector certification standard, so the 8AWG cable can meet the 48A.)
- [DESIGNED WITH J1772 Connector for All North America j1772 Connector EVs/PHEVs. Not fits for Tesla/Nacs Connector Cars(j1772 to Tesla adapter needed)]: Compatible with Tesla cars (Adapter needed, not included), Ford, GM, Audi, Kia, Honda, Kia, Hyundai, Gmc, Chevrolet Bolt, VW ID 4, Nissan Leaf, Ford Mustang Mach-E, IONIQ 5 2024 and before, BMW i3, i4, iX, Jeep Wrangler 4xe, etc. [Not fits for Nac connector cars-Kia EV6 2025/EV9,Ariya 2025&2025 loniq 5(J1772 to Tesla adapter needed)]
- [Safety & Faster Charging with ETL, FCC, Energy Star Certified]: Meets the Safety Criteria Defined by: SAE J1772, UL2231-1/-2, UL 991, UL 2231, UL 2251, UL1998 and UL 2594. (ETL and FCC certified EV car charger with 3-year Warranty)
- [Plug-play Mode(The Default Setting), Smart Touch Screen, No APP Needed]: Clearly show the charging amperage, charging speed, input voltage, delay time, etc. For the touch buttons: 1. Pull out the charging gun before press the buttons, otherwise no respond; 2. Long press "Ⓐ" or "Time" button to enter the setting interface, then you can adjust the amperage from 16A to 48A freely or Set the charging start time; 3. You can do "factory reset" if doesn't charging.
- [Smart WIFI APP, You can Set the Charging Period]: By APP, you can wirelessly check the charging cost, history, fully-charged notification, track the charging status, during off-peak period, etc. [Wi-Fi Reset/Factory Reset Function, Add New Device Quickly]: If you can't find your device or you have replaced a new phone, just pull out the charging latches, simultaneously long press the Ⓐ button and time adjustment button on the product screen until it shows "Factory Reset", then wait 3-5 seconds and re-start your device.
- one-way and round-trip miles;
- commuting days per week and estimated annual miles;
- official consumption and, once available, your observed consumption;
- petrol price per litre or electricity price per kWh;
- home, workplace and public charging shares;
- energy cost per mile and per commute;
- separate ownership costs such as insurance, servicing, tax, finance and depreciation.
For an EV with mixed charging, calculate the home and public portions separately, then add them: (home miles × home cost per mile) + (public miles × public cost per mile). For a plug-in hybrid, do the same with electric miles and petrol miles. Record the date and region for every tariff because HMRC rates are quarterly and electricity prices change.
Recommended Free Tools
When the “cheapest” answer can change
The ranking is sensitive to inputs that are personal rather than universal. A driver with a cheap overnight tariff and a driveway may see a large gap between an EV and petrol. A driver who rents a flat, parks on the street and uses rapid chargers may see little energy-cost difference. A high-mileage commuter benefits more from a small per-mile gap than someone who drives occasionally, but a higher purchase price can delay or eliminate the payback.
Vehicle choice also matters within each powertrain. A heavy electric SUV, an efficient small hatchback, a powerful petrol car and a hybrid used mostly on motorways will not match their category averages. Compare the exact trim, battery, wheel size and equipment where those details affect the certified consumption figure.
Keeping the calculation current
Check HMRC’s advisory fuel rates whenever the quarterly review changes the applicable date. Recheck your electricity tariff after a price-cap change, a fixed-rate renewal or a switch to an off-peak plan. Public charging networks can change prices independently, so use the tariff shown for the connector and payment method you will actually use. Keep historical calculations labelled with their effective dates; mixing a January 2024 government example with September 2026 HMRC rates creates a false comparison.
The exact cheapest option for your commute cannot be selected without your distance, candidate models, real or official efficiency, petrol price, electricity tariff and charging split. Once those inputs are entered consistently, the cost-per-mile method shows whether your likely saving comes from home electricity, efficient petrol use, hybrid assistance or a combination.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
