What are the main electric car benefits?
We’ve pulled together a list of the advantages you can get when choosing to drive an EV:
Reduced noise pollution.
Convenience and accessibility.
Cleaner environment.
No congestion charge.
Smoother driving experience.
Road tax reductions.
Government grants.
Energy independence.
Future-proofing.
Exploring the advantages of electric vehicles.
Let’s go into more detail about the benefits of electric vehicles:
Lower running costs.
An electric car will cost you less to fill up and drive, as well as being cheaper to service and maintain. This is because electricity is generally cheaper than petrol.
Another cost advantage of electric cars is that they have fewer moving parts than petrol or diesel equivalents, which means lower maintenance costs. Plus there’s little or no vehicle tax to pay.
You can use our handy EV charging calculator to work out how much it costs to charge an electric vehicle.
Reduced noise pollution.
Without petrol or diesel engines to make all that noise, EVs are much quieter. In fact they’re so quiet they are now required by law to emit a noise (Acoustic Vehicle Alert System) when reversing or travelling below 12 mph.
Reduced noise pollution can make our cities and communities more pleasant and less stressful places to live and work.
Convenience and accessibility.
One of the main advantages of electric cars is that you can charge at home and take advantage of cheap overnight electricity rates. With smart home chargers you can also take advantage of smart features like remote monitoring and scheduled charging. A
way from home there are more and more public charging stations becoming available.
Cleaner environment.
Because they’re electric, EVs aren’t releasing carbon exhaust fumes into the air whilst you’re driving, helping to reduce air pollution and combat climate change. This air pollution reduction can also have health benefits for communities.
EVs also help us to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Electric vehicles generally have a lower lifetime carbon footprint than petrol cars.
No congestion charge.
Reduced road charges are another major electric vehicle benefit. If you live in London or areas which have introduced Clean Air Zones to reduce pollution, you’ll avoid paying any charges in an electric vehicle. In London, EVs are exempt from the ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone).
Low emissions or clean air zones are becoming more and more common in the UK, with the following cities and areas beyond London all having some form of controls in place: Bath, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Tyneside (Newcastle and Gateshead), Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow.
Smoother driving experience.
With less internal moving parts, electric cars can handle easier, make less noise and benefit from regenerative braking that captures motion energy from acceleration that would have been wasted.
This leads to a smoother, quieter and more comfortable ride for passengers and drivers.
Road tax reductions.
If you’re driving a fully electric car rather than a plug-in hybrid, then your road tax is absolutely free. If you drive a plug-in hybrid you’ll still get a discount over petrol or diesel cars.
These exemptions will change in 2025.
Government grants.
Depending on your situation you could be eligible for a government grant towards your EV including the Plug-in Car Grant (PiCG) and the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS).
As of June 2022 however, the PiCG is no longer available for cars and is only available for motorcycles, vans, trucks, and taxis. The EVHS grant offers up to 75% (capped at £350) off the cost of purchasing and installing a home charging point. The EVHS is available to homeowners who have space dedicated to off-street parking.
Renewable electricity tariffs.
Our EV tariff, Next Drive, offers 100% renewable electricity1. The majority of EV tariffs on the market also offer renewable electricity.
Included with this tariff is a free 1 year subscription to Zoom EV, giving you benefits and discounts on things like public charging and parking2 - plus, you can also get our E.ON Drive Comfort app for easy access to over 20,000 UK charging points.
Remember, if you go for an EV tariff, you’re likely to then use a renewable electricity tariff too, making your energy use more sustainable in turn.
You can charge at home.
No more going to the petrol station in the morning before work, get an electric home charger installed and you can charge your electric car overnight.
If your home is suitable for a home charger, this can be a gamechanger, letting you take control of your charging schedule and keeping on top of your charging costs. For those with a busy schedule, home charging is one of the biggest advantages of electric cars.
Energy independence.
If you have solar panels and a battery installed at your home, you can use any excess electricity you generate to charge your electric car with your home EV charger.
For the forward-thinking energy consumer, this is an excellent way to improve the sustainability of your home and reduce your energy costs too.
Future-proofing.
Many places are enacting stricter vehicle emissions regulations. This favours electric vehicles, so by making the switch to an electric vehicle, you’ll be future-proofing your travel somewhat.
As technology improves, battery efficiency and range is also likely to improve. In the future, in combination with other home energy tech, EVs will contribute to a greener, smarter and more resilient electricity grid.
1 Next Drive electricity backed by 100% renewable sources, E.ON's renewable generation assets, agreements with UK generators and the purchase of renewable electricity certificates. The electricity supplied to your home comes from the National Grid. Smart meter required. Exit fees and T&Cs apply.
2 As an E.ON Next customer, you could get a one year’s subscription to Zoom EV. By registering you give consent for your details to be shared with Zoom EV and for Zoom EV to contact you regarding this offer. Zoom EV is a third party vendor and will not share your information with other third parties.
How well do electric cars perform?
With more and more advances in electric vehicles, they’re now performing even better against traditional petrol or diesel engines. Despite being heavier than many petrol cars, electric cars can often accelerate surprisingly quickly.
The Tesla Model S for example is one of the fastest-accelerating cars on the market, doing 0-60 mph in just under 2 seconds. This is due to the fact that electric cars offer instant torque, which boosts acceleration speed.
Another performance advantage of electric cars is that they tend to have a lower centre of gravity compared to petrol cars, due to the position and weight of the battery. The weight in an electric car is also more evenly distributed than in a petrol car. These two factors can improve handling and stability.
Electric cars are also quieter and smoother than petrol cars, due to the reduction in moving parts. Without a gearbox, EVs also tend to be simpler to drive than manual or automatic cars as you don’t have to worry about changing gears all the time. No more hill starts to worry about!
EVs also use regenerative braking systems. These systems capture energy that’s normally lost as heat during braking. This converts the car’s kinetic energy into electricity that is then sent back to charge the battery. This extends the car's range and reduces wear and damage to the brake system.
As the vehicle type of the future, EVs are also most likely to be the first cars to use cutting-edge technology features including autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems.
Electric vehicles are becoming more popular.
As more companies start making electric cars they’re becoming an ever bigger presence on our roads, and that’s a good thing. With more EVs we’re seeing the supporting infrastructure grow. For example there are around 20,000 charging locations in the UK, offering over 35,000 charging points.
You compare this against petrol stations, which in 2021 we had about 8,378 in the UK and has been dropping since 2000, and you can see the impact of EVs.
Plus more EVs are being created for you to choose from, with companies such as Nissan, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Kia, BMW, Mercedes Benz and many more all producing popular electric cars.
Should I get a home charger for my electric vehicle?
Smart chargers offer you a hassle-free way to charge your electric car without leaving the house. A home smart charger offering 7.4kW can charge an electric car in six hours.
Plus, with the average cost of electricity at 24.5p per kWh it can cost a lot less to fill up than a petrol or diesel car.
What are the disadvantages of an electric vehicle?
Like any vehicle, there are some disadvantages to owning an electric car, however each of them are being tackled in different ways.
Driving range of electric cars.
Despite EV car sales continuing to rise, for some people, the range or how far an EV can go before needing to charge is still a concern. This is called “range anxiety” and generally focuses on longer journeys where people are worried they’ll run out of charge before they get where they’re going.
Most electric vehicles have a range of 150-300 miles, and with over 35,000 charging points across the UK there are plenty of places to charge up. If you’re going on a long journey, we recommend mapping out where you can stop to charge before you drive and make sure your EV is fully charged before you head out.
How to maximise your EV range
'Range anxiety’' for some drivers is still a barrier to going electric. But should this be a reason to fear driving an electric car or have things moved on? Watch our EV explainer video for tips and tricks to maximise your vehicles range.
Time to charge.
Whilst more and more people are charging their EVs at home, sometimes you just need to find a charger when you’re out and about. With petrol and diesel cars you’re used to a fuelling process that takes a few minutes, however with your electric car this will generally take longer.
Ultra-fast and rapid public chargers can charge your electric vehicle in around 30 minutes, which means it’ll take a bit more time before you’re on the road.
How long the battery will last.
The batteries used in current electric cars do have a life expectancy. Currently it’s about 10-20 years depending on the make and model of EV. This means you’ll need to factor the cost of changing the battery in if you’re planning to keep your EV for the long term.