What It Costs to Charge an EV for 400 Miles
Last checked: Thu Aug 13 2026 01:00:00 GMT+0100 (British Summer Time)
The same 400 miles of driving can cost you anywhere from under £9 to over £20, and the difference has almost nothing to do with which car you drive. It comes down entirely to when and where you charge.
The three scenarios
Standard home electricity, any time of day. Charging on a normal variable domestic rate - without an EV-specific tariff - typically runs upwards of 24p per kWh. Covering 400 miles this way costs in the region of £21.
An off-peak EV tariff, charging overnight. Dedicated EV tariffs offer a much lower rate during set off-peak hours, often around 7p per kWh. The same 400 miles drops to under £9 - less than half the standard-rate cost, for exactly the same driving.
Public rapid charging. Convenient, but the most expensive option by a clear margin - typically around 65p per kWh, which works out to roughly 21p per mile. For comparison, the off-peak home figure above works out closer to 2p per mile. Public rapid charging makes sense for topping up on a long journey; relying on it as your main charging method is the most expensive way to run an EV.
Why the gap is this big
It isn’t really about the car - it’s about which electricity market you’re buying from. Standard variable rates price electricity the same regardless of when you use it. Off-peak EV tariffs exist because energy suppliers want to shift demand into low-usage overnight hours, and pass a genuine discount back to you for doing it. Public rapid chargers are priced for convenience and speed, not for cost efficiency - you’re paying for not having to plan ahead.
What this actually means for your setup
If you’re only ever charging on standard rates, switching to a dedicated EV tariff is very likely the single biggest cost saving available to you - bigger than most hardware decisions. It does usually require a smart charger capable of scheduling or communicating with your supplier to charge during the off-peak window automatically, rather than relying on you remembering to plug in at the right hour every night.
If you’re mostly relying on public rapid charging because home charging isn’t set up yet, that’s worth treating as a temporary state rather than the long-term plan - the cost difference compounds fast over a year of normal driving.
These are representative figures for comparing the three charging methods, not a quote for your specific vehicle - your own car’s efficiency (miles per kWh) will shift the exact numbers, though the proportional gap between the three scenarios holds regardless of what you drive.