It depends on so many variables.
Mainly what’s local to you and the cost per kwh. Then the max charging speeds of the car, suitable for your needs, etc and how you will adapt around charging.
There are 2 types AC and DC. AC is slower but my car can handle up to 22kw.So in theory I can fill my whole 64kwh battery in 3 hrs, using a 22kw charger, But how often do I stop somewhere for 3 hrs.
So I’d use 22 kw’s if the price was reasonable just to top up, like while we eat something or are shopping etc, charging often and just adding a little, amount of charge.
Then DC which is much faster. If you have a Tesla or Ionity not far away, that would be my go to for a full charge, well to 80% as after the speed slows down a lot. It also depends on your actual regular mileage and the range of the EV you select as to how often you’ll need to charge. The longest I’ve actually public charged for on 150+ kwh units is 19mins.
My car is capable of a max speed of 158kw. So I don’t use DC chargers under 150kw, as using lower rated ones will just waste my time. So I generally filter out all those under 150kw, same as I also filter out 7kw and 11 kw from my searches for AC chargers. Which sometimes can be cheaper then using the faster ones, but like I said take longer to charge. My usage varies a lot. Some months I charge only once a week and others 3 times a week. If I didn’t have a home charger, I’d charge to 80% using Tesla and then likely charge up when I can on 22 kwh units that not that expensive as to charge 80% to 100% on DC takes as long as 10% to 80%(30min) so from 10% to 100% would take an hour.
I have 150kw/180kw chargers at the bottom of my street virtually in Aldi but I wouldn’t use them as they just to expensive, 79p via shells own app, 89p via zap pay and electroverse. So its always worth check which option of payment is the cheapest. Instavolt after 8pm via there app is 54p, so I’d only use them after 8pm.
Certainly charging off peak can be cheaper, with some CPO. Ionity do a flat flat with top subscription at 43p a kwh. Bonus to Ionity is many are 800v not 400v. So charging times can be 50% less, 15mins over 30mins.
All EVs are not equal. Some only charge at 100kw and have 50kw batteries and I’d say they are not ideal for those without a home charger. Unless you do very low mileage. You’ll be charging more and for longer each time. Especially when doing a longer journey.
Also you get less miles in winter than in summer from the same charge. Let’s say most ev’s will achieve 3 mile per kwh so 50kwh / 150 miles unless your doing 70mph on the motorway, then you might get less.
My car has a 64 kwh usable battery so can achieve 192 miles. 77kwh / 231 miles.
So depending on you mileage you’ll only really use 70% of the battery most of the time. So if you only want to charge once a week, from the 77kwh battery you’d be able to do 161.7 miles a week from the 70% soc.
So that’s an important thing to consider. From a 50 kwh only 105 miles. http://evdatabase.org/uk is a great source for real world ranges and data on cars.
You will get a free BP pulse subscription, which takes the price to a max of 63p a kwh, but again it’s no real use if ones not local or is slower than your max speed, some are only 50kw and that’s 3 time slower than a 150kw charger.
So these are the things I would look at to see if without a home charger it’s viable for you now.
You could try and get on a pavement channel / gully or other trial in you local area and that might then allow you to home charge.
It can be done, but it needs a Little research and planning and maybe even a change of your route and mindset to just filling with fuel and is certainly different.
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