The state of electric car charging in 2022

The electric car market is booming, and not looking to slow down anytime soon. With people heading towards a greener, cleaner future, you might be wondering if electric is the way to go. Electric cars have a whole heap of benefits, allowing you to save money on those extortionate petrol prices, alongside helping you do your bit for the environment.

With these incredible benefits, switching to electric seems like a no-brainer. However, there is one concern that might be the reason behind your hesitation. And that’s the current EV car charging situation. Questions such as “Will I run out of electric while driving?” and “Where can I charge my electric car?” might be circling your mind, but don’t worry, we’re here to answer all those questions and more.

Access to electric car charging

At the moment, access to electric car charging stations isn’t quite as widespread as we’d hope. However, that isn’t to say that it’s not ramping up exponentially as we speak. Currently, there are over 42,000 charge point connectors across the UK – more electric vehicle charging points than there are petrol stations!

And with the increase in electric car ownership, with over 15% of cars sold so far in 2022 being electric, around double that of last year, it looks like the only way is up when it comes to electric car charging stations.

You’ll find locations to charge an electric car all over the country, and some common places you’ll find them include:

• Workplace car parks
• Supermarkets
• Service stations
• Cinemas

Electric car charging at home

Many electric car owners will have their own electric vehicle charging ports installed at home. Want to start each and every day with a ‘full tank’? Well, by simply pulling up onto your drive and plugging in, the worries of needing to top up the tank are long forgotten.

Due to the continuous rise in popularity of electric cars in the UK, building regulations now require that all newbuild homes must include an electric charging point, in a bid to encourage drivers to switch to EVs and do their bit for the environment.

But if you’re wanting a charging point in your existing home, the installation costs around £800. However, there are several electric car charging grants that you could be applicable for to help save you some pennies. Some grants provide funding for up to 75% of the installation cost of a home-charging station, so it’s definitely worth looking into whether you’re eligible for one of the government grants for electric car charging points.

If you live in an older property where your wiring is a bit sketchy and can cut out at the flick of a switch (literally!), then things might be a little bit trickier. Although it’s still very much possible to get hooked up with a home charging point, more time and expense will need to go into ensuring your wiring is safe, secure and can handle it. But despite this, the money you can save in the long run switching to electric could be very much worth the hassle.

Cost of electric car charging

The cost of charging your electric car varies, depending on a wide range of factors. This includes what type of car you have (typically, the smaller the car, the cheaper to charge), the type of charger you own and the location you choose to charge your vehicle.

Fully charging your electric car at home is only likely to cost you around £15, giving you around 250 miles, and then at a rapid charging station, it’s typically around the £6-£7 mark for 30 minutes, which will give you around 100 miles of range. All in all, that’s a huge difference from fuel prices, which can set you back an eye-watering £100 a time!

As you’ll already be aware, the prices of everything are soaring at the moment, including both fuel and electricity costs. So, the question stands, is it cheaper to spend money on fuel or the electricity required to keep your EV topped up if you charge at home? Well, it seems that electric cars come up trumps on that one, potentially saving you around £1000 in annual costs alone.

While your electricity bill will go up, not having to dig into your wallet for the extreme fuel prices will be a blessing. Many EV owners charge their car overnight, every night, but that’s probably not even necessary for many. According to data from RAC, the average daily mileage is about 28 miles per day, and to say that the average range of an EV is around 200 miles, well, we’ll let you do the math. Overall, you might not need to use as much electricity as you might have thought to keep that battery topped up.

Saving money on electric car charging

There are electricity tariffs designed to help save money on EV car charging, which may offer a deal like cheaper electric prices at night, which is the time when you’ll likely want to charge your car.

And as mentioned before, you can always look into electric car charging grants to see if you’re applicable, as these could cut some costs on installation.

How long does electric car charging take?

Most drivers are used to pulling up at the petrol station and leaving with a full tank of fuel within a matter of minutes, so waiting for your EV to charge will sure take some getting used to.

However, most of the time, you don’t always need to be waiting for hours on end.

The time it takes to charge an electric car varies, but it can take anywhere between 30 minutes to 10 hours. This time all depends on various factors, including your battery size, how many miles you drive between each charge and the power of the charger you’re using.

EV car charging ports vary from slow, fast, and rapid charging. If you head to a service station for your electric vehicle charging, they’re typically kitted out with a rapid charging unit, which can provide up to 80% charge as quick as 20-30 minutes – impressive!

Hopes for a 5-minute future?

Getting to a fully-charged tank within 30 minutes is no doubt speedy, but it’s still miles away from popping to the petrol station and leaving with a full tank in minutes.

However, a 5-minute charging future to rival petrol and diesel cars might not be as far away as you think. With talks of a ‘quantum battery’ which could potentially charge around 200x faster than a classic battery, it looks like you might not need to worry about leaving the car on charge overnight. Apparently, this battery could cut the time it takes to charge your car at home down from 10 hours to around 3 minutes, and at high-speed electric car charging stations, the time could go from 30 minutes to literally seconds. Now that’s impressive!

Hopefully, if this super speedy charger works out, it could eradicate the leading blocker that’s preventing everyone you know from switching to an EV. It might still be a few years away yet; however, it shows potential and hope that the future of electric car charging is promising.

Whether you like it or not, electric cars are the future. Better for the environment and cheaper to run, now might be the perfect time to start thinking about switching to electric.