July 15th Marks the Day EV Driving Becomes ‘Free’ in 2024!

The Electric Car Scheme has revealed the crossover day when a petrol driver spends more on fuel than an electric driver will all year. This point was revealed by analysing the annual fuel costs for the average UK driver travelling 7,400 miles a year - estimated to be £1,268 for petrol drivers and £680 for electric car drivers.

That means a petrol driver will have spent more on fuel by the middle of July than an EV driver will all year. This is also dependent on your model of EV and when you charge it, in fact with a Tesla Model Y Long Range charged on an off-peak tariff, you could hit this point as early as March 10th. 

The equivalent day for carbon emissions is March 5, when a petrol car will have caused more carbon emissions than an electric car will for a whole year of driving and power consumption. While the UK’s power grid retains fossil fuels EV driving will not be 100% emissions-free, but as more and more renewables are added to the grid that day will move earlier and earlier.

The Electric Car Scheme has dubbed July 15 ‘Electric Car Day’ as it underlines just how much more affordable electric cars are, with average EV drivers essentially getting five months of free driving.

Since fuel prices and the energy price cap are variable, the day is not static each year. With electricity prices higher in 2023, it fell on August 1 – meaning EV drivers have saved even more on fuel in 2024. The amount of CO2 saved by EV drivers has also increased, with the share of electricity being generated by renewable sources increasing in the past year, meaning fewer total emissions, and pollution, compared to petrol cars. 

The Electric Car Scheme CEO and Co-Founder Thom Groot commented:

“For the rest of the year, electric car drivers can be safe in the knowledge that petrol drivers have already spent as much as they will all year to drive. This is on top of knowing that since early March, EV drivers have been effectively driving emission-free when compared to traditional cars, not to mention the vast amounts of pollution taken out of our villages, towns and cities and the health benefits that it brings.”

“It’s well known that driving an EV brings down your fuel costs and emissions, but it is not always the easiest thing to visualise, which is why we came up with the idea of the “electric car day” to show just what huge impact making the switch can have. Not only that, but as this is the second year we are celebrating, we can see this impact is growing as electricity prices fall and more of it comes from renewable sources.”

“We know that upfront costs remain higher for electric cars and that this is the biggest barrier to entry for the majority of Brits, which is why we created The Electric Car Scheme to get more drivers behind the wheel of one affordably. The scheme works with salary sacrifice so drivers get savings of up to 60% on a lease – a bit like the Cycle to Work scheme, but for electric cars.”

The AA President Edmund King commented:

“Upfront costs remain relatively high for EVs, but with prices coming down and running costs consistently falling, it could be the time for a new cohort of people to consider their long-term options and see if an electric car is right for them. The data shows a clear delineation in the relative costs and environmental impacts of driving a petrol car which is hard to ignore, especially as the date creeps ever earlier in the year.” 

The Electric Car Day was calculated using the following formula and assumptions.

• Average miles travelled per car: 7,400 in 2019, the last clean pre-pandemic year we have figures for. Source: DfT.

• Average petrol miles per gallon: 38.8 for UK cars. Source: Nimble Fins.

• Average price per gallon of petrol in 2023 (YTD): £6.64 (£1.44 a litre.) Source: RAC Fuelwatch, figures obtained in early-July.

• Average price per mile electric: £0.09, although this can be cheaper with a special tariff.  Assumes home charging. Source: EcoExperts.

• Annual petrol cost is therefore £1,255, while annual EV cost is £680.

• This means the average petrol car costs £3.44 a day in 2023, with £680 spent by July 15th.

• For carbon emissions, 149 grams of CO2e/kWh was taken from the National Grid figures for 2023.

• The average EV consumes 0.32 kwh per mile, emitting 47.7 grams of CO2e per mile for power consumption. Source: EV Database.

• The average petrol car emits 274.4 grams of CO2 per mile.

• Therefore the average petrol car will emit 2030kg of CO2 every year – while the average EV will emit just 352kg.