One key factor that lead me into buying my Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid (PHEV) was the fact I could save on fuel, without having to pay loads for an expensive full battery electric vehicle (BEV)
I’ll break down the numbers for you on how much it has cost.
This post includes:
- Charging cost (empty to fully charged)
- How to save massively on charging
- Costs I hadn’t bargained for
- Why driving a full EV isn’t necessarily cheaper in the UK
- Battery only range
- Other running costs
Cost of a Full Charge
Charging at Home
Charging a plug in hybrid (PHEV) should typically cost between £0.60 (Renault Captur) to £2.30 (Range Rover P440e). My car costs me £0.72 ($0.79). And that’s with the energy prices at an all time high in the UK.
It is only possible to charge a PHEV. Full ‘none’ plug-in hybrids have much smaller batteries and no possibility to recharge at home using a charger.
Table of Plug in Hybrid Charging Costs
| Car | Cheap Rate (£0.075) | Day Rate (£0.40 |
| Renault Captur (9.8kWh) | £0.59 | £3.14 |
| Mitsubishi Outlander (12kWh) | £0.72 | £3.84 |
| BMW 330e (12kWh) | £0.72 | £3.84 |
| Audi A3 TFSIe (13kWh) | £0.78 | £4.16 |
| Citroen C5 Aircross (13.2kWh) | £0.79 | £4.22 |
| Mitsubishi Outlander (13.8kWh) | £0.83 | £4.42 |
| Hyundai Tuscon (13.8kWh) | £0.83 | £4.42 |
| Audi A6 TFSIe (14.1kWh) | £0.85 | £4.51 |
| Ford Kuga PHEV (14.4kWh) | £0.86 | £4.61 |
| Bentley Flying Spur (18kWh) | £1.08 | £5.76 |
| Range Rover P440e (38.2kWh) | £2.29 | £12.22 |
How to Calculate Cost to Charge
To calculate charging cost the maths is easy:
- Find your car’s battery capacity, this is kWh (note the h at the end for hours)
- Find out your electricity rate quoted in £/kWh
My Outlander has a 12kWh battery fitted. The manufacturer never let you use the whole battery, this is so that it lasts longer.
- Take 20% off (multiply by 0.8) the available capacity, 0.8×12 = 9.6kWh
- I have a special 00:30->04:30 energy tariff that charges £0.075/kWh (7.5 pence/kWh)
- Cost = [80% of Capacity] x [Electricity Tariff Rate]
- 0.8x12x0.075 = £0.72
If you are interested in getting a similar tariff, check out Octopus Go, (if you use this link we will both get £50 credit on our bill)
Cost to Charge at Home on Peak Rate
Charging in the daytime takes the cost to charge from £0.72 (at night) to £3.84 in the daytime.
Right now in the UK energy tariffs are eye watering. I am paying £0.40 / kWh which seems like day light robbery if I’m honest! Keep reading to find out what’s cheaper, petrol or electricity, the results are surprising.
Charging on the Move
You may want to consider purchasing a charging cable so that you can charge your PHEV when you are out.
Tesco and other business’ may provide free charging for customers, (my local Tesco is no longer operating a free Pod Point charger) but I did used to enjoy a free journey to the supermarket!
Unfortunately because a PHEV battery is so small (compared to a full electric vehicle) the charge speed is somewhat limited, so a 1 hour shop might not actually put a great deal of charge into the car’s battery. If you can engineer it to arrive basically empty your car will charge much quicker than if the battery is almost full.
Don’t forget that for an AC charge, if you do have a timer set on your vehicle (to capitalise on cheap night rate) you will need to override it for the charge to actually start – ask me how I know!
I also get free AC charging at my workplace so that is a nice benefit, but as with any AC charging you typically have to provide your own lead. I recommend that if you have the spare time and the price is preferable, why not charge on the move.
Thankfully a PHEV gives you the flexibility to avoid expensive public chargers, where it is quite likely to be cheaper to use conventional petrol.3
What Cable Do I Need
For a Mitsubishi Outlander you will need a Type 1 to Type 2 lead like this one. That will enable you to charge at public chargers.
Other vehicles typically use a Type 2 to Type 2 lead like this one.
Type 2 vs Type 1 vs Chademo
Type 1 leads, as used in the Mitsubishi Outlander don’t lock at the vehicle end, meaning someone could simply unplug the cable from your vehicle. They also look like this:
Type 2 connectors are lockable at the vehicle end and are not round, they have a flat top at both ends and the plug to the vehicle looks like this:
The Chademo connector you will not have to buy, it is hard wired to the public charger. When you rock up for a charge at a public Chademo charger, expect a much quicker charge without the ‘faff’ of getting your personal cable out of the boot.
How Much Cheaper is Electricity vs Petrol?
As you can see, charging on the cheap night rate is well worth it, covering 30 miles for about £1 works out much cheaper than using petrol (almost 7 times cheaper).
But what if you have to charge in the daytime, these calculations are not so rosy:
| Electricity (£0.40 / kWh) | Petrol (£1.45 / litre) |
| 3 miles / kWh | 35mpg |
| 35 / 3 = 11.67 kWh | 1 UK gallon = 4.546 litres |
| 35 miles cost £4.67 | 35 miles costs £6.59 |
This table shows the gap is certainly closing, if petrol continues to drop in price and public charging / general electricity prices keep rising. Then having having a PHEV may actually be preferable for long trips vs a fully electric!
Why Petrol is Cheaper than Electricity
As stated above, provided I can get better than 35 UK mpg its cheaper to burn fossil fuels than pay for electricity when it exceeds £0.56/kWh. Shell are charging an eye watering £0.85 / kWh for a rapid charge – significantly more than their petrol!
Producing electricity must be cheaper than drilling for oil, transporting it to a refinery, refining it, distributing it to the fuel stations, not to mention the fuel duty levied by the UK government which makes up £2.64 of my £6.59.
Battery Only Driving Range
In summer I can get about 22miles around town full to empty. In winter this drops to ~16 miles. I’m also stingy with the heater! Spoiler alert, heaters and EVs don’t mix well, when considering maximum range!
I’ll be honest, the ‘guestimator’ (the car’s idea of EV range), is pretty useless at guessing my available range.
As shown above, I find that my summer EV mileage is significantly further than winter mileage.
Before you go
Enjoyed this, check out some other hand picked posts I have written around this topic:
