Should I Buy an Electric Car? An Honest Look

The question that decides it for most people

Can you charge at home?

Almost everything else is secondary. Home charging on an off-peak tariff costs around 7p to 10p per kWh, roughly 2p to 3p a mile. Public rapid charging runs around 76p to 79p per kWh, roughly 23p to 24p a mile, which puts you level with or above petrol.

That's a ninefold difference in the price of the same energy, and it's the difference between an EV that saves you £700 to £1,200 a year and one that doesn't save you anything on fuel at all.

If you have a driveway or allocated off-street parking where a wallbox can be fitted, the financial case is strong. If you don't, it gets much more finely balanced, and anyone who tells you otherwise is not being straight with you.

Where an EV genuinely makes sense

You can charge at home. As above. This is the big one.

You do a lot of predictable local mileage. Commuting, school runs, regular journeys within range. The more miles you cover on cheap home electricity, the faster the sums work.

You're buying used rather than new. Depreciation is the largest cost in EV ownership, and used prices fell around 10% year on year into 2026. Someone else has taken that hit. A three or four year old EV from a strong brand with good battery health is currently one of the better value propositions in the UK car market.

You're a company car driver. Benefit in Kind on fully electric cars sits at 4% for 2026/27, against up to 37% for high-emission petrol. This is the single most favourable EV scenario in the UK and it isn't close.

You keep cars a long time. Lower servicing, fewer wear items, no cambelt, no clutch, no exhaust. The savings compound.

You mostly drive in town. Regenerative braking, no idling, and instant response suit urban driving well, and there's no cold-start inefficiency on short trips the way there is with a petrol engine.

Where an EV is a harder sell

No home charging. Worth repeating. Public charging removes most of the running cost advantage. An EV may still suit you for other reasons, but run the numbers honestly first.

Very high annual mileage with lots of long trips. Achievable, but it means more rapid charging, which is both expensive and harder on the battery over time. Diesel still has an argument here for some drivers.

Regular towing. Towing hits EV range hard, often halving it, and not all EVs are rated to tow. Check the specific model's towing capacity before assuming.

You need maximum practicality for minimum money. At the very cheap end of the used market, petrol still offers more car per pound, though this gap is closing.

You're nervous and buying blind. An EV bought without checking the battery is a genuine risk. Bought with the battery checked, it isn't. That's a solvable problem rather than a reason to avoid EVs, but it does need solving.

Circumstance by circumstance

Flat or terraced house, on-street parking. The hardest case. Look into lamp-post charging schemes in your area, workplace charging, and whether a slower destination charger near you is realistic. Be honest about whether the routine would annoy you.

Rural, long distances between chargers. Charging infrastructure has improved considerably, but check the actual network on your regular routes rather than looking at a national map. Home charging plus a decent range usually makes this work fine.

Two-car household. Often the easiest entry point. An EV for the local car and something else for long trips removes almost every concern at once.

Cold climate or unheated parking. Expect 15% to 25% winter range loss, and prioritise a car with a heat pump. See cold weather and EV range.

Short daily mileage. An older, cheaper EV with modest range can be an excellent buy. You don't need 300 miles to do 25 miles a day, and you'll pay a lot less.

The honest pros and cons

In favour:

• Much cheaper per mile with home charging
• Roughly 20% to 50% cheaper routine servicing
• Fewer mechanical parts to fail
• Very cheap company car taxation
• Quiet, smooth, quick
• No emissions zone charges

Against:

• Higher purchase price than an equivalent petrol car
• Insurance typically 10% to 15% higher
• Tyres wear faster and cost more
• Depreciation has been heavy, though this benefits used buyers
• Charging away from home is expensive and less convenient
• Battery condition is a real unknown unless you check it

The thing most people get wrong

They compare a new EV against their current petrol car and conclude it's too expensive.

The more useful comparison is a used EV against a used petrol car of similar money, over the time you'll actually keep it. Once the first owner has absorbed the depreciation, the running cost advantage does the work, and the sums look very different.

What to do next

If the answer is leaning yes, the used market is where the value is right now. The one thing that turns a used EV from a gamble into a straightforward purchase is knowing the battery's condition before you pay, because State of Health drives both the car's usable range and what it'll be worth when you sell it.