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25 September 2023

New Fiat 600e – a slice of the Dolce Vita

Need an EV that’s small, stylish and Italian? Then welcome to the new Fiat 600e.

The big sister to the cute 500e, the 600e boasts a 54kWh battery, a range of more than 250 miles and some of the very latest safety and comfort technology. Available as a five-door with a 360-litre boot, the 600e matches practicality to efficiency along with five seats inside.

With a 100kW fast charger system, it takes less than half an hour to charge the 600e’s battery from 20% to 80% along with three driving modes – eco, normal and sport – with a 0 to 60mph time of less than 9.0 seconds.

The Fiat 600e is available in standard or La Prima trims with prices starting from £32,995 with the first deliveries in early 2024.

New charging Gigahub for NEC Birmingham

The UK’s largest public EV charging hub has opened at the NEC Birmingham in the West Midlands.

Enabling 180 EVs to charge simultaneously, the hub boasts 30 ultra-fast 150kW chargers and 150 7kW charge points. Run in connection with the EV Network and BP Pulse, the Gigahub has access to a drive-through Starbucks for drivers at the UK’s leading live events business.

“This new, nationally significant BP Pule Gigahub at the heart of the UK’s road network, is another great example of our strategy in action,” said Akira Kirton from BP Pulse. “We plan to roll out hundreds of hubs this decade in places EV drivers need them – urban areas, on trunk roads and motorways and at destinations such as restaurants, retail parks and hotels.”

Skoda Enyaq offer with up to £7,500 savings

Skoda is offering up to a £7,500 saving on its all-electric Enyaq models for a limited time. Skoda has introduced a range of offers including on the Enyaq to help support drivers who take advantage of Transport for London Scrappage Scheme following the expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone.

The Scrappage Scheme itself offers a financial support package of up to £2,000 to eligible drivers when purchasing a new compliant model. Skoda is boosting that still further for customers after an Enyaq or Enyaq Coupe with a £2,000 discount and a deposit contribution of up to £3,500 for those who order by 2 October on a Solutions PCP.

Skoda’s full range of offers can be seen at: https://www.skoda.co.uk/finance/new-car-deals

What happens with new car sales and EVs in 2030?

With the Government announcement, 2030 is a date you might have seen quoted a lot when it comes to electric cars.

Previously, the plan was that from 1^st January 2030, sales of new cars and vans that were only powered by a petrol or diesel engine would no longer be allowed. However, plug-hybrids could continue to be sold if they were capable of a certain distance.

This is the rule that the Prime Minister’s announcement on Wednesday 20 September has effectively dropped, while the 2035 ruling on fully-electric cars remains the same.

What happens with new car sales and EVs in 2035?

While the 2030 date has changed, the 2035 ruling date remains unchanged from before and from 2035 onwards car manufacturers will only be able to sell purely electric vehicles.

So what happens between now and 2035? Given the costs in developing new cars, the reality is that more and more manufacturers will naturally grow their electric model ranges before then – Citroen, Vauxhall and Peugeot have already said that they will have fully electric ranges by 2028. Every new Ford will also be electric by 2030.

So many manufacturers are already planning to be ahead of that fully electric 2035 date by some margin.

18 September 2023

BMW makes mighty £600m Mini investment

In a fantastic move for the future of electric vehicles in the UK, BMW has announced a £600 million investment at the Mini factories in Oxford and Swindon.

The Oxford plant, which celebrates its 110^th anniversary this year, will build two new all-electric Mini models from 2026 – the Cooper three-door and the compact crossover Aceman. Today, the Oxford plant produces the current Mini Electric and has done so since 2019 alongside the conventional ICE models.

Stefanie Wurst, Head of the MINI brand, said: “Mini has always been aware of its history – Oxford is and remains the heart of the brand. I am delighted that the two new, fully electric Mini models – the Mini Cooper and Mini Aceman – are also being produced in Oxford, thereby confirming our path to a fully electric future.”

Osprey and Motability Operations join forces

Ohme partner Motability Operations has joined forces with Osprey Charging as its first public-charge point operator partner.

The agreement will enable Motability EV drivers to find a location on Osprey’s GB-wide rapid-charging network, charge and pay through the Motability Go Charge App before reviewing the location for accessibility. Osprey was not only the first public charge point operator to build accessibly-designed public charging hubs but also was the first to subscribe to Chargesafe, the independent charging point body.

“This is something close to Osprey’s heart, so we’re delighted to be the first CPO partner of Motability operations,” said Ian Johnston, CEO of Osprey Charging. “We look forward to seeing the feedback from drivers, which will help us to continue to set the bar for inclusivity and user-friendly charging for all.”

For those Motability drivers at home, Ohme has been the official home EV charger provider since early 2022.

Peugeot unveils new E-3008

Peugeot has confirmed the first details of its new all-electric E-3008 with a 435 mile range.

On sale from February 2024, the new Peugeot E-3008 will be available with a choice of two batteries, a 73kWh model capable of up to a 326 mile range or a long-range 98kWh model which can travel up to 435 miles with a 160kW charging speed.

The new E-3008 gets the next generation of Peugeot’s stunning i-cockpit which features a driver and central infotainment display in a single 21-inch curved screen. The sleeker shape of the new E-3008 also covers two and four-wheel drive options and a plug-in hybrid version will also be available at a later date.

Peugeot will announce pricing closer to the on-sale date in February next year.

Whether you’re charging at home, at work or on public chargers, it’s almost always be cheaper to charge an electric car than the equivalent of filling an equivalent car with petrol. And, better yet, unlike with petrol prices, with your home electricity rates, it’s surprisingly easy to reduce those costs yourself.

Here, we’ll look at the costs of charging an electric car at public charge points out on the road and show you how to save money when charging your car.

Where can I charge my electric car on the road?
What do the different charging speeds mean at a public charging point?
Do I need to use my own charging cable at a public charging point?
How do I charge my electric car at a public charging point?
Do I need to download the charging company’s app beforehand?
Do all electric car public charging points cost the same?
How can I save money by having an account with a public charger provider?

Where can I charge my electric car on the road?

At the time of writing, there are over 24,500 electric car public charging locations in the UK with more than 68,000 connectors. The Government has announced a minimum goal of 300,000 public chargers to be in place by 2030 and has pledged a £950 million rapid charging fund to support at least 6000 rapid chargepoints on motorways and major A-roads by 2035.

Most modern electric cars will have a ‘find a charger’ function within their sat nav systems and some even enable you to plot your route according to your remaining range. However, probably the easiest way of checking is via the Zap Map website and app.

Zap Map is a simple map that enables you zoom in on certain areas and easily see the various types of charger on offer via a colour-coding system. Yellow are 3kW chargers, blue are 7kW fast chargers and purple are rapid charging points that are usually 43kW and above.

What do the different charging speeds mean at a public charging point?

Put simply, the higher the kW charger, then the faster your car will charge – up to a limit. Different EVs have limits to their charging capability, so a Vauxhall Corsa Electric can charge at up to 100kW, while a Porsche Taycan can charge at 225kW. You can still plug in to more powerful chargers, but they just won’t charge any faster.

Also, no matter what the car, that charging speed will slow once the battery is above 80 per cent level of charge, which helps to protect the lifespan of the battery. Rapid chargers of 50kW and above are harder to find than the slower chargers, but the UK network of rapid and ultra-rapid charging points of 100kW and above is growing quickly.

Do I need to use my own charging cable at a public charging point?

It depends on which charging point you’re planning on using. Fast chargers of up to 7kW tend to be ‘untethered’ which means it’s just a socket and you’ll need to use your own cable. For rapid charging points though, they tend to be ‘tethered’ with the lead attached to the machine itself.

The CCS rapid charging points of 50kW and above use the secondary ‘bulge’ on the bottom of your socket which has the shape of a flattened figure of eight. Either way, it’s no bad thing to keep your charging cable in the boot of your car anyway, just in case.

How do I charge my electric car at a public charging point?

First you need to check the charger is working and this is where the Zap Map app is so useful. For each charging location it will show you the details of the site, the pricing structure (more on this later), whether it’s working and, crucially, any notes from past users. Users can also ‘check in’ to certain chargers meaning that you can also see if they’re being used in real time.

It’s worth doing this homework before you get there to save you a wasted journey. Those notes from previous users are also invaluable as the charger might be broken or not delivering the correct level of charge that you need.

Do I need to download the charging company’s app beforehand?

Until recently, the answer would have been a definite yes to download the app, but now it’s not always necessary. Again, check the Zap Map app, but many chargers now offer contactless payment, so that you can simply plug in and tap your card to pay.

Having said that though, opening an account isn’t a bad idea for one main reason – price. Many charging point providers offer different tier levels of pricing per kWh. Turning up and paying by contactless is one price, charging via the firm’s own app is slightly cheaper and having a subscription account can be cheaper again.

It does mean you pre-loading an account with the respective company with money, but the savings can soon add up. The same goes for paying a regular subscription fee which as we said is cheaper still, but can be beneficial if you’re regularly using one particular firm’s chargers.

Do all electric car public charging points cost the same?

In short, no. Like petrol stations on motorway service stations, the more convenient the charging point is, then often the more expensive it will be. The same goes for the speed of the charger too. Usually the faster the charger is, then the more expensive it will be.

So a 50kW or 100kW charger will often be more expensive than a 7kW one, put simply you’re paying for the speed. At the time of writing, Gridserve charges 49p/kWh for its chargers that are up to 22kW, while its faster chargers up to 350kW cost 69p/kWh. It pays for you to know what the fastest speed is that your car can charge at, as there’s no point in paying for a higher speed that you can’t fully use.

How can I save money by having an account with a public charger provider?

As mentioned earlier, if you have an account with a public charger provider, then it can sometimes mean that you can pay a lower price per kW for your charging. It might not look like you save much money, but it can soon mount up – just a few pence might pay for that coffee that you buy while you’re charging.

Also, if you don’t have an account then those differences can be a lot more than just a few pence. With some providers, having a subscription account where you pay a set monthly fee, can see the price rate drop by more than half. So if you regularly use a particular brand of charger, then it’s definitely worth looking into.

Compared to shopping around for petrol prices, when you’re charging an EV at a public charger, a little bit of forward planning can soon pay off.

What are off-peak smart electricity home tariffs and how do they work?

For current electric car drivers, 80 per cent of their charging happens at work or at home. The main advantage to charging at home is that your home will almost always be the cheapest place to charge.

Numerous electricity providers such as Octopus and Ovo now offer off-peak EV tariffs for overnight charging similar to the old ‘Economy 7’ tariffs of previous years. These can see your electricity tariff dramatically drop overnight, significantly reducing your charging cost.

At present, the standard domestic tariff is 30p per kWh, so a Volkswagen ID5 with a 77kW battery would cost 77 x 30p for a full charge – ie £23.10.

However, if you have one of those off-peak EV tariffs, then the price can be as low as 7.5p/kWh overnight with Octopus Intelligent. At that lower rate, if you did all of your charging at that lower rate over two evenings on that same Volkswagen ID5 from zero to 100 per cent would cost just £5.78 – a huge saving on the standard tariff.

Switching to an electric vehicle (EV) is a brilliant move for both your wallet and the planet. But one of the first questions on the minds of most EV drivers is: how much does it really cost to charge an electric car at home? In this guide, we’ll look at the factors that influence your home EV charging prices in the UK and, crucially, how you can leverage smart charging to find the cheapest way to charge your electric car at home.

How much does it cost to charge an electric car at home?

The simple answer to this is that it depends on your home electricity tariff and how much you pay per kWh.

Your EV’s battery capacity (kilowatt-hours: kWh): Think of this as the “fuel tank” of your EV. A larger battery (e.g. 60kWh) holds more energy and typically offers a longer driving range, but it will also require more electricity to charge fully compared to a smaller battery (e.g., 40kWh).
Your energy tariff (pence per kilowatt-hour: p/kWh): This is the price you pay your energy provider for each unit of electricity. As of May 2025, the average UK domestic electricity price sits around 27 pence per kWh. However, your actual rate can vary significantly based on your supplier, tariff type, and even the time of day you use energy.

The equation to work out the approximate cost of a full charge is:
(Battery capacity in kWh) x (Energy price in p/kWh) / 100 = Approximate cost of full charge (£)

So, for example:

Say you own an EV with a 60kWh battery and your current electricity rate is 27p/kWh = 60kWh x 27p/kWh = £16.20.
In this scenario, a complete charge from an empty battery would cost you roughly £16.20.

It’s worth noting that the range you get from this charge will depend on your specific EV model and driving conditions. Let’s look at three example electric cars:

Battery size

WLTP official range

Cost for a full charge

Hyundai Inster

49kWh battery

229ml range

£3.43

Volvo EX90

111kWh battery

385ml range

£7.77

Volkswagen ID.3

79kWh battery

369ml range

£5.53

Comparing charging your EV at home vs a petrol or diesel car

Charging at home is typically significantly cheaper than filling up with petrol or diesel. When you factor in the potential of smart charging on a smart EV tariff, the savings become even more substantial.

Tip: Charging with an Ohme home EV charger can make switching to an electric car more affordable than you might think. Use our savings calculator to see how much you could save with your chosen EV model.

Calculating your personal home EV charging costs

To get a clearer picture of your potential home EV charging prices, follow these steps:

Identify your electricity tariff: Check your latest energy bill or online account to find your current electricity rate (in p/kWh). If you’re on a TOU or EV-specific tariff, note the different peak and off-peak rates.
Know your EV’s battery capacity: This information is usually available in your car’s manual or online specifications.
Use the basic formula: (Battery Capacity in kWh) x (Your Electricity Price in p/kWh) = Estimated Cost of a Full Charge (£)
Consider your charging habits: Think about how often and how much you typically charge. Do you usually aim for a full charge or just top up?
Explore EV tariffs: Research the time-of-use tariffs offered by different energy providers in the UK. Websites like MoneySavingExpert or Uswitch can be helpful resources for comparing tariffs.
Leverage smart charging: Consider how a smart charger like the Ohme Home Pro or Ohme ePod can automate your charging during the cheapest periods offered by these tariffs, optimising your savings seamlessly. Find more about smart EV charging at home here.

How can I lower the costs of charging my electric car at home?

While the basic equation gives you a starting point, several factors can significantly impact your actual cost to charge your car at home:

The power of your electricity tariff: This is where the biggest potential for savings lies, and it’s a key area where Ohme’s smart charging tech can help.
Standard Variable Tariffs (SVT): These offer a single electricity rate throughout the day. While straightforward, they don’t provide opportunities for cost optimisation.
Time-of-Use (TOU) tariffs & EV-specific tariffs: These tariffs offer different energy rates depending on the time of day. Typically, they provide much cheaper electricity during off-peak hours (often overnight when demand is lower). Many energy providers now offer specialised EV tariffs, such as Intelligent Octopus Go, with significantly cheaper overnight rates (sometimes as low as 7-10p/kWh!). By scheduling your charging to take advantage of these off-peak periods – a key feature of Ohme smart chargers – you can lower your energy bills.
Fixed rate tariffs: These provide price stability but may not always be the most economical option for EV owners who can shift their charging to off-peak times.
Charging habits: top-ups vs full charges: In reality, you won’t always be charging from empty. Regularly topping up your battery will cost proportionally less.
The tech packed in your home charger: This is where Ohme truly makes a difference. While any home charger will deliver electricity to your car, our smart EV chargers offer features designed to optimise each charging session while reducing ownership cost.
Tariff integration: Seamlessly integrates your charger to your energy tariff to unlock additional off-peak charging slots.
Real-time insights: The Ohme app provides clear visibility of your charging sessions, energy consumption, and associated costs, empowering you to understand and manage your spending.

Want to learn more? Check out our guide to dynamic electricity tariffs here to see how they work — and how they can help you save every time you plug in.

Take control of your charging costs with Ohme

Understanding the cost to charge your electric car at home doesn’t have to be complicated. By considering your electricity tariff, your EV’s battery size, and, most importantly, by charging your car at home with an Ohme charger, you can significantly reduce your running costs and enjoy the full benefits of electric vehicle ownership. Explore our range of smart chargers here.

What is regenerative braking on an electric car?

You might hear a lot of talk about regenerative braking when it comes to electric cars, but what is it and how does it work?

As its name suggests, regenerative braking uses the forward momentum of the car when you lift off the accelerator to recharge the on-board batteries. It turns that momentum back into electrical energy that is fed back into the car’s batteries for later use. And, like an old bicycle with wheel-driven dynamo lights, when you stop moving, so the regenerative braking ends.

In most electric cars, you can also tailor the strength of that regenerative braking to suit your own preference or the roads you’re driving on. Sometimes this can be a very light setting, occasionally referred to as a ‘sailing’ or ‘coasting’ mode which minimises any rolling friction and maximises your free-wheeling ability. This is sometimes preferable on faster roads.

On the highest levels though, this can bring the car to a halt with a strength equivalent to pressing the brake pedal quite hard. The advantage of this is that you can often learn to drive an EV almost entirely in this mode by adapting the pressure on the throttle pedal with your right foot, often referred to as ‘one-pedal driving’ and barely using the brake pedal.

The force of the regenerative braking in these higher levels can be so forceful and so sudden that most cars will also activate the rear brake lights to warn drivers behind you that the car is braking.

Where some electric cars vary is that these regenerative braking levels can be adapted either as a simple on/off switch to multiple different levels. Some of the latest EVs take it one step further by adding a further ‘automatic’ mode to the regenerative braking. So, the driver can choose a strength level or the car can do it for you using forward-facing cruise control radar and information from the sat nav to decide on how strong your regenerative braking should be.

The other issue to bear in mind is when the battery is fully-charged on some plug-in hybrids and fully electric cars. Then the regenerative braking often won’t offer the same stopping power as the battery is already full, meaning you have to rely on the traditional brakes.

Some trip computers can even show you how much energy or ‘free’ miles you’ve gained through regenerative braking over a period of time. And while the battery charge and the electrical energy gained from regenerative braking is fairly minimal, it’s still nice to know that you’re effectively getting some ‘free’ motoring miles as a result. Regenerative braking shows that there is such a thing as a free lunch after all.

How far do electric cars go between charges?

Unfortunately, asking how far an EV can travel between charging, is a bit of a ‘how long is a piece of string?’ question. An EV’s range depends on a number of things, but the two main ones are the size of the battery and the car’s efficiency, usually measured in miles per kWh.

While the officially claimed WLTP range is a good guide, the reality is that it can be hard to match that during real-world driving.

Instead, reckon on an average efficiency of 3-4 miles per kWh with some smaller EVs managing more than that and sportier or larger models covering less. If you then multiply that by the car’s battery size, then you’ll get the real-world range.

There’s a caveat to that though, which is that some of the car’s onboard equipment and the outside temperature will also have an effect on your range. Batteries don’t like cold temperatures and your fully-charged range will drop during the winter months. Heat pumps, an option on some electric cars, can help to prevent this by keeping the battery within its working temperature range.

Of course, it also doesn’t help that during that colder weather, you’re more likely to use the car’s heater too. If you have them, heated seats and a heated steering wheel are often a more efficient way of heating those inside than the main heater.

It may sound a lot to take in, but the reality is that it doesn’t take long living with an electric car for you to find your way and find out what works and what doesn’t.

What is miles/kWh on an EV?

Over the years of driving petrol and diesel cars, we’ve all got used to miles per gallon or ‘mpg’ as an easy reference to a car’s efficiency.

As we move towards electric cars, obviously that’s no longer possible. While petrol and diesel are sold and referred to in a liquid volume (litres), electricity is measured in kWh, so the efficiency of electric vehicles tends to be measured in miles per kWh usually shortened to mls/kWh.

As with petrol or diesel cars, how you drive your electric car can have a dramatic effect on its efficiency and while there are several factors under your control to limit the amount of power you use, others such as the outside temperature or the roads you’re travelling on are often out of your control.

As it suggests, the miles per kwh is a measure of the distance your car is averaging for each kWh of energy from the battery. A very general average is around 3.0-3.5, while some more efficient EVs might manage 4.0-5.0 mls/kWh or higher and some performance models or larger SUVs can be lower.

Generally speaking the larger the battery in your car, the longer the range of the car is likely to be. So the 35.5kWh battery in the Honda e is capable of 137 miles, while the Volkswagen ID.3 has a 77kWh battery with a 347 mile range. But it’s not just a case of putting a larger battery in to extend the range of an electric car. While batteries are getting more efficient, they also add weight and size, so manufacturers have to balance a useable range against the car’s weight. The heavier a car is, the more energy it takes to move that weight.

A larger battery isn’t necessarily more efficient either, which is why that mls/kWh average is a better indicator. So a car with a larger battery that’s less efficient could have the same range as one with a smaller battery that’s more efficient.

As electric cars gain more popularity, there’s no question that we will be become more familiar with miles per kWh and it will soon become as second nature as mpg for petrol and diesel cars.

What is a tethered charger?

As its name suggests, a tethered charger like our award-winning Ohme Home Pro comes with the charging cable already linked to the charger. It can connect to all Type 2 plug-in electric vehicles and you can choose between a five or eight metre cable.

One advantage of a tethered charger such as the Ohme Home Pro is convenience. The cable is already there so it’s simply a matter of unhooking it to plug in to your car. You don’t need to constantly retrieve a separate cable from your car or home when, say, returning home late at night or in bad weather.

What is an untethered charger?

Our Ohme ePod (pictured above) is sometimes referred to as an ‘untethered’ or ‘universal’ charger. Put simply, this means it doesn’t have the charging cable attached to the charger as with the Home Pro. As well as being slightly more affordable, some prefer an untethered charger for its simpler looks if the charger is in a prominent position on the front of your home.

An untethered charger is compatible with all plug-in electric vehicles (hence the ‘universal’ tag), so while the majority of new electric vehicles have used a Type 2 plug for some time, if you need to charge an older EV, such as a first generation Nissan Leaf or a Mitsubishi Outlander, then an untethered charger might be for you.

The same goes for that length of cable. With an untethered charger, if you need a longer cable to reach your vehicle, then you can buy whatever length you need.

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