
19 Jun Are you ready to drive truly Emissions Free?
So, you’ve made the commitment to lease an electric car, do your bit for the environment and help towards the zero emissions holy grail. Teresa May made the bold decision to pass a law to ensure the UK is zero emissions by 2050. Petrol and diesel cars will be phased out by 2040 and you are already on the right side of that trend. You’re driving an electric vehicle with zero emissions right? But for your car to truly run with zero emissions you need to be sure that the power you use to charge it is derived from a sustainable source and not via a pollution emitting power station.
The UK recently went a record breaking two weeks without using any fossil fuels to produce our power, a brilliant step towards becoming sustainable but we still have a way to go. So how can we be sure that the power that we consume, especially to run an electric car is sustainable?
The power companies have rightly come to the party regarding our need to take responsibility for our own carbon footprint and are starting to make sustainable energy more available for EV drivers. Here are a few of the best…
Ecotricity have their “Fully Charged Bundle” which offers the promise of green energy at a cheaper EV tariff and half price charging at their Electric Highway Stations nationwide. Their standard EV rate is 14.73p/kw
EDF Energy are currently doing a big advertising campaign, using the tagline “Electric Generation”. They are offering their EV driving customers 100% renewable energy at a charge of 8.01p k/wh off peak and weekend charging and 17.38 p at all other times. They are also offering £300 discount on home chargers installs.
Octopus Energy will charge EV drivers an extremely cheap 5p/kwh for 4 hours every night. If you have a smart home charger you can set it to switch on automatically when the rate kicks in. The standard rate is 14.02p. The power comes with a renewable energy promise
British Gas have their “Green Drive” tariff, again with 100% renewable energy promise at a cost of 11.84p off peak and 17.88 p at other times.
Ovo Energy have “EV Everywhere” which offers EV drivers a 2 year Polar charging subscription and a discounted home charger. Your home electricity comes from sustainable sources at a cost of 17.8p standard rate.
Scottish Power have a 100% renewable energy tariff for 4.74p off peak and 17.06p. With a discounted smart home charger.
So, the best thing you can do is to ask your current supplier about their commitment to sustainability and ask for their best deal for EV drivers or be prepared to switch to a supplier who is committed to helping you to drive green. You could pay less to charge and have peace of mind that your power is coming from a sustainable source. Make sure that the home charger you choose has smart capability, that way you can set your car to charge when the rate is at its cheapest.