Smart charging is a great way to save money while charging your electric vehicle (EV).
Charging at home is currently the cheapest way to charge, and by charging at home during off-peak times, when the demand for electricity is lower, you can save even more money.
If you have a non-smart chargepoint, you can still charge at off-peak times by manually plugging your EV into it during low-cost periods or programming the charging time through your EV’s dashboard controls. Otherwise, you can plug your EV into a smart chargepoint, which can schedule itself to only charge when electricity is at its cheapest overnight.
Keep reading to learn how smart charging could save you money.
How much money could I save by smart charging?
Charging an EV at home is cheaper than using a public charger. A full charge of a typical range of 300 miles and a 50kWh capacity battery approximately costs:
Home charging with an EV tariff or other time-of-use tariff – £8
Home charging on a standard tariff – £17
Public fast charging – £37
Public rapid charging – £53
Smart charging at home overnight, when energy prices are at their lowest, could save up to 20% on your EV charging costs. Although this will depend on your tariff, mileage, and charging patterns.
How much does a smart chargepoint cost?
The typical cost of installing a home charge point is around £800-£1200.
You’ll also need an EV energy tariff and typically a smart meter to make the most of it.
We recommend you compare different smart chargepoints and EV energy tariffs before purchasing, to ensure you’ve got the right solution to suit your lifestyle. You can use comparison sites such as:
You’ll need access to off-street parking to have a home smart-chargepoint installed. If you don’t have a driveway or garage, you might be able to have a cable gulley installed, with permission from your local authority.
Smart chargepoint
There are a variety of smart chargepoints on the market, with various features to choose from. A smart chargepoint can be tethered (meaning it has a permanent EV cable attached to it), or untethered (meaning it will have a socket that an EV cable can be connected to).
Smart meter
To access EV tariffs and other time of use tariffs, you will typically need to have a smart meter installed. Smart meters let energy suppliers accurately record when energy was used at cheaper rates. Get in touch with your energy supplier about arranging an installation at no extra cost.
EV energy tariff or other time-of-use tariff
Most of these tariffs have different rates for day (peak) and night (off-peak) hours. Lower tariffs are typically applied during the night, allowing you to charge your vehicle overnight at a lower cost. Remember that these tariffs apply to all the electricity usage in your home, so consider when and where you use electricity around the house. Some suppliers offer EV tariffs with cheaper rates available at times that can vary. Some of these EV tariffs can be for EV-specific charging only, separate from your other household electricity usage (known as type-of-use tariffs).
How does smart charging work?
Smart charging allows you to set your charging preferences, which may include:
Desired charge level: the battery level you want to charge your vehicle to.
Charge-by time: the time you want the charge level to be completed by.
Minimum charge level: the minimum battery level you don’t want your vehicle to fall below. A vehicle will ensure the minimum battery level set is met before optimising the rest of the charging, so the vehicle will have enough charge in case of an emergency.
The smart chargepoint sends these charging preferences via Wi-Fi or cellular network to monitor and optimise the charging. You can always override these smart charging settings to immediately charge your EV, instead of waiting for the off-peak optimised charging times.
