Comparing Gas Costs vs Charging an EV

Graham Wilson, who is the Registrar, GS/A and Visa for the Citroën Car Club in the UK, wrote us providing some interesting observations about UK petrol/gas and prices these days, and how they relate to EV charging;

^{I use E5 petrol with its lower percentage of ethanol than the regular E10 petrol. In the UK we think E5 has several benefits, especially for classic cars including preventing damage to old type components of the fuel system.  I also go for top brands as there are supposed to be extra additives in them that are not in the cheaper supermarket brands. Shell’s E5 petrol is 99 octane and my BX 16 and 2015 C3 Picasso respond better on that than 97 octane E5 petrol as provided by, eg, BP.  The GSA, GS and Visa 652cc do not seem to benefit from 99 octane over 97 octane E5.  The E10 petrol is 95 octane here.} 

^{I have recently paid £1.99 for a litre of 99 octane Shell E5 and that is:}

^{3.76 CA$ for a litre of petrol [at 1.89 CAD to £1]} 

^{2.63 US$ for a litre of petrol or $11.96 per UK gallon}

^{Diesel prices here are also now at £2 per litre and that will affect the cost of all goods transported by lorry/truck eventually.} 

^{However, the price of electricity for electric cars at fast public chargers on motorways etc still makes petrol cheaper than electricity in the UK!    Prices are 70-85p per kWh being typical and up to 92p per kWh is possible.}

^{An economical electric car does about 4 miles per kWh and so 100 miles needs 25 kWh @ 85p/kW  = £21.25} 

^{100 miles in our petrol Citroën C3 Picasso on E5 petrol uses 2 gallons or 9.1 litres x £1.99 = £18.11}

^{It is a strange world of motoring costs now!}

Granted, if access to home charging at off-hours, or charging by some other means of power generation at home is factored, then EV pricing would be less, but Graham’s data does provide us with real world on-the-road data comparing the cost of gas cost vs having to use EV fast public chargers.

And consider the advantages that a hybrid vehicle offers in fuel savings. We had a 2026 Toyota Corolla hybrid on a 10 day trip in Eastern Canada this fall. There was no charging — it took only gas and it averaged 4.6L/100 km. Factoring that cost to what Graham says he achieves with his petrol Citroën C3 Picasso on E5, that would be 7.43L/100 mi and that puts the Toyota’s petrol/gas cost to travel 100 miles in the UK at £14.76.

No debate here on the acquisition and other operational costs of each. Just a practical observation on what energy costs are in the UK are to drive an economical gas, EV or hybrid vehicle these days.