If you are charging an electric car at one of the glossy new fast charging stations at motorway services, you might want to check out the prices you are paying. A comparison test on petrol and electric vehicles was recently carried out in the UK and it found that combustion engine cars can actually work out cheaper in some cases. 

The research was conducted by What Car? and involved driving four cars 2 from Yorkshire to Surrey. The vehicles used were a Peugeot e-208, the petrol-powered 208 Puretech 130, a BMW i4 M50 and the BMW 4 Series Gran Coupé M440i petrol.

Each car was either fully fuelled or fully charged at the start of the journey and then refilled or fully recharged at their destination. Charging took place at popular Ionity charging points. 

The petrol 208 used 15.96 litres of regular unleaded fuel on the 208-mile trip and at £1.99 per litre the cost was £31.90. The e-208 used 59.37kWh and the recharge cost was £40.97 at an average consumption of 3.5 miles/kWh. This meant the electric vehicle was 28% more expensive. Meanwhile the electric BMW worked out 10.8% more expensive. 

The research illustrates that in the same way motorway fuel costs can be high at service stations, so can certain high profile charging points, especially when based on a per Kilowatt hour rates. 

Of course the electric vehicles would offer cost savings if charged at home, overnight and at off peak rates. The research does however, illustrate that electric vehicle owners do need to plan carefully and shop around to keep costs under control.