Why Should Electric Car Owners Get A Drive If They Lack One?

The ability to take your car off of the road and keep it safely on your property is often more than enough justification to invest in a high-quality driveway alongside the rest of the paving around your house, but for electric vehicle owners, it could also save you a not-insignificant amount of money.

The cause of this is down to the rather unusual disparity in tax for electricity dispensed at charging stations compared to one’s own home.

Whilst electricity for domestic use is taxed at five per cent, using a pavement charging station is considered to be a business use and is thus charged at the full 20 per cent.

This means that if you have an EV safely placed on a driveway, either plugged into a dedicated charging station or via an adaptor to the mains power supply, it is, by definition, far cheaper than using a public charging station notwithstanding the cost of electricity, profit margins or any other factor.

This often means that in practice drivers without a driveway pay four times as much for the electricity they use to get around.

This is, of course, not new, and for years the situation has been brought up as a potential reason why car owners are hesitant to buy a new EV, often describing the issue as a “pavement tax”.

However, for people with EVs and a home with the ability to fit or upgrade a driveway, it means that now is one of the best times to install and new drive and enjoy the long-term benefits of a beautiful, secure place for your car to stay when you are at home, as well as savings as the car charges whilst you are parked up.

Unless something drastically changes, it makes a drive a sound investment for an EV owner.