Electric vehicles are becoming increasingly popular, with plug-ins anticipated to make up 25% of new registrations in 2023, representing 32.1% growth.
Different Types of Electric Vehicles
There are 3 main types of electric car, based on the extent of which electricity is used as its energy source.
- Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are run solely on electricity. They need no petrol or diesel and are charged at an electricity source
- Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are mainly run on electricity but can be run on petrol or diesel if they happen to run out of charge. They will only produce emissions when they are being run on fuel
- Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) are mainly run on petrol or diesel but also have an electric battery which is recharged by braking. They cannot be plugged into an electricity source like the other types
Advantages
- Eco-friendly… electric cars are much better for the environment as they produce zero emissions from their use
- Low running costs… the exact running costs of electric vehicles vary depending on whether you’re charging at a public charging point or at home, the amount of charging you do, and the type of charger you have. You can find out more about running costs on the EDF website. However, for an idea of cost, Pod Point rapid chargers at Lidl cost about £9.30-£10.70 for around 90 miles of range
- Low Benefit in Kind tax… you pay a tax called Benefit in Kind when accepting any benefit from your job which isn’t your wage or salary, such as a company car. For company cars, the tax you pay is based on the car’s emissions, so electric cars used to pay 0%. Whilst this has since changed, the tax you pay is still very low, fixed at 2% until April 2025 where it will then increase by 1% in that year and each one following until 2028.
- Growth of charging points… the government has committed to spending £1.6 billion to expand the UK charging network. They aim to have 300,000 public chargers available by 2030
Drawbacks
- Electric cars will no longer be exempt from vehicle excise duty (road tax) from 2025 onwards
- Time to charge… charging is time consuming; it can take between 30 minutes and over 12 hours to charge an electric car
- Cost of home point charge… this is currently around £1,000 for its installation
- Demand for electric cars is growing quicker than the creation of charging points… despite their recent growth, charging points for electric vehicles are more scarce than petrol pumps for cars running on fuel
- No more Congestion Charge exemption… the Congestion Charge zone in central London costs £15 a day to drive through. Pure battery vehicles are currently exempt but as of December 2025, the same rules will apply to them