What is Travel SMART?
Travel SMART is an initiative from Surrey County Council that
aims to help Surrey residents and businesses reduce carbon,
calories and cost. The Travel SMART team want to encourage
people to travel using sustainable modes of transport. Doing so
will cut traffic congestion and keep our air clean.
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Thinking of switching
to an electric vehicle?
travelsmartsurrey.info
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@TravSMARTSurrey
Travel SMART Surrey
Helping you cut carbon, calories and cost
Find out more at travelsmartsurrey.info
Electric vehicles are everywhere these days. Perhaps you’re
considering buying one, but wonder how they measure up to
conventional vehicles. This leaflet is designed to answer your
basic questions and point you to the additional information
you need to make the best decision about whether an
electric vehicle is right for you.
There are four main types of EVs:
01. Full EV (BEV)
Uses batteries to store energy that powers a motor. The batteries are
charged by plugging the vehicle into an electrical power source, and
BEVs can also be charged by regenerative braking - slowing down the
vehicle by converting and storing its kinetic energy.
Peugeot iOn
City car
EV range: 93 miles
Charge time: 7 hours
Price: £21,216
Nissan Leaf
Small Family
EV range: 124 miles
Charge time: 4 hours
Price: £16,490*
What are electric vehicles?
Electric vehicles (EVs) are cars that are powered by one or more electric
motors, using electrical energy stored in rechargeable batteries instead of a
petrol/diesel engine. For lots of people, the first thing that comes to mind
when you think of EVs is the Sinclair C5, but the industry has come a very long
way since the 1980s; modern EVs are convenient, reliable and affordable.
BMW i3
Supermini
EV range: 118 miles
Charge time: 3 hours
Price: £25,980
Renault Zoe
Supermini
EV range: 130 miles
Charge time: 4 hours
Price: £13,995*
Tesla Model S
Executive
EV range: 310 miles
Charge time: 14 hours
Price: £50,880
02. Plug in range extended EV (E-REV)
Powered by batteries, but also fitted with a small petrol/diesel generator that can
help extend the range of the vehicle by topping up the batteries while driving.
Vauxhall Ampera
Small Family
04. Conventional hybrid
In a sense the opposite of the E-REV, these vehicles have a conventional
petrol/diesel engine which is boosted by a supporting electric motor
powered by regenerative braking.
Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4
Family
EV range: n/a
Charge time: n/a
Price: £27,545
Please note that prices refer to base models and could be subject to
changes and include grant-related discounts (see the next page).
* Price does not include battery purchase or lease
EV range: 52 miles
Charge time: 4 hours
Price: £28,750
03. Plug in hybrid (PHEV)
Powered both by electric and a conventional diesel/petrol engine.
The diesel/petrol engine provides power when the battery is depleted.
The battery can also recharge from the engine and via regenerative braking.
Toyota Prius
Large Family
EV range: 15 miles
Charge time: 2 hours
Price: £28,395
Who should buy an EV?
All electric vehicles are ideal for the vast majority of typical journeys, whilst
for longer journeys, PHEVs or E-REVs (which both have back-up petrol/
diesel engines) are more versatile alternatives. Currently more than 60%
of UK households have more than one car, and EVs are very well suited to
being the second car in a household.
What are the advantages of buying an EV?
Can I get a grant to help me buy an EV?
→ BEVs don’t create any CO² exhaust
emissions. PHEVs do, but in very low
quantities. They’re therefore good
for the environment and air quality,
particularly in town/city centres.
Although electricity to power the
car still needs to be generated, all
EVs are greener than a regular car.
A government grant scheme is in place to help people buy EVs.
For more details go to gov.uk/plug-in-car-vangrants, but here’s the basics:
→ Not only is the cost of charging
EVs very low (about £2.20 to fully
charge an EV overnight from a
standard socket in your home), it
also costs less to run (around 2p per
mile compared to 12p per mile for a
petrol vehicle).
→ EVs have ten times fewer moving
parts than petrol powered cars and
thus require less maintenance.
→ They’re smoother to drive than
regular cars.
→ Flexible fuelling! You will no
longer have to drive to a petrol
station; all you need is a charging
point at home or at work.
Charging an EV is easy!
Most can be plugged into
a standard home socket
The average UK commuting
distance is only 15km – easily
covered several times over by
all modern EVs
There are a host of tax incentives
for business users, including:
• Taxation of Company Cars: 0% until
April 2015 and 5% thereafter.
• Car/Van Fuel Benefit Charge:
no fuel benefit charge.
• Van Benefit Charge:
reduced until 2020
• Enhanced Capital Allowance:
eligible for 100% first year
allowance until 2018.
• Fuel Duty: EVs exempt.
• Vehicle Excise Duty: EVs exempt.
• Value Added Tax: electricity attracts
only 5% level of VAT, compared to
20% for road fuels.
• Congestion Charge: EVs and PHEVs
which meet the criteria are eligible
for a 100% discount.
25% off the cost of a car,
up to a maximum of £5,000
20% off the cost of a van,
up to a maximum of £8,000
Grants are available for BEVs
and PHEVs; you can find a full list
of eligible cars on the website
The range EVs can cover is
a problem though, isn’t it?
Not anymore. Battery life has
improved significantly, and whilst
the majority of charging is likely
to take place at home or at work,
a fast growing national network
of public charging points exists to
allow you to recharge your EV’s
battery on the move. To give an
idea of some typical EV ranges:
→ Travelling from Guildford to
Brighton? The Nissan Leaf has a
maximum range of 124 miles, which
would get you there and back - it’s 50
miles each way.
→ The Peugeot iOn has a maximum
range of 93 miles, which would take
you from Woking to central London
and back, (30 miles each way) and as
a bonus you wouldn’t have to pay the
congestion charge.
→ If you have a longer journey
to make, the Tesla Model S has a
maximum range of 300 miles, which
would get you from Woking to
Newcastle (295 miles one-way).
→ A Vauxhall Ampera has a maximum
range of 52 miles; it would therefore
do the first 52 miles using the electric
battery only and would then revert
to its petrol generator for the rest of
the journey (up to 310 miles on a full
tank), taking its range up to 362 miles.
There are three types of EV chargers:
Where can you find charging points in Surrey?
· Slow charging – full charge in around 8 hours
· Fast charging – can fully charge EV in 3-4 hours
· Rapid charging – can provide an 80% charge in 30 minutes
How do you charge EVs?
Most electric cars come with a standard charging cable that allows the car
to be plugged into a normal three pin wall socket. Some also use a quick
charging, gun shaped socket for coupling with dedicated power units either at
home, your workplace or at a public charging point.
We recommend getting a qualified electrician to check that your home/office
wiring is robust enough to handle the high electrical draw of your EV if you
plug it into a normal three pin wall socket.
There are 1,500 EV charging points in the United Kingdom, 400 of which are
rapid charging points: this number is however growing fast as more companies
and councils are installing charging points for their own and public use.
There is a large
network of public
charging points
around the country
Websites like zap-map.com and nationalchargepointregistry.com provide
maps of all the EV charging points available in the United Kingdom.
Charging points can usually be found in car parks, motorway services and retail
outlets: you will therefore generally be able to go shopping or have a cup of
coffee while your car is charged. Charging points are defined by the power
(kW) they produce and hence the speed at which they can charge an EV.
What about electric bicycles and motorbikes?
A range of electric bikes are available at a number of high street cycle
shops and online. They allow you to pedal when you want to, or use an
electric motor to take you 30 miles or so on one charge. Electric bikes can
be ridden on a public road by anyone aged 14 or over.
A number of electric motorbikes and mopeds are also available
and can provide a range of up to 185 miles per charge.
Agility - Saietta R
Urban Sport Motorcycle
EV Range: 120miles
Charge Time: 3 hours
Price: £19, 770
iPed C
Electric Scooter
EV range: 25 miles
Charge time: 4 hours
Price: £1,495
Still not sure? Here’s our top ten
reasons to buy an EV
EVs have very low
running costs - just
2-3p per mile!
Your driving will be
clean and green
thanks to the UK’s
growing generation of
Modern EVs use highly renewable electricity
efficient lithium ion
batteries similar to that EVs do not emit
in a laptop computer
tailpipe pollutants
and contribute to
Grants are available for
cleaner air
up to £5,000 (car) and
£8,000 (van) towards
EVs are exempt from
an EV’s purchase price
vehicle tax and fuel duty
Your EV will be fully
recharged if you
leave it plugged in
overnight, much like
a mobile phone
Battery lease
options are
available
The average EV
can travel up to
100 miles per
charge
Your chances of running out
of charge when stuck in traffic
are about the same in an electric
car as in a petrol-fuelled car