Electric car drivers hit with eye-watering energy costs – London Business News | London Wallet

Electric vehicle (EV) drivers are facing rising costs as energy prices surge amid the ongoing Middle East oil crisis.

Some chargepoint operators have warned that they may need to pass these increased costs onto motorists.

While petrol and diesel prices have been the focus, charging electric cars is also becoming significantly more expensive.

The Telegraph reports that Osprey has seen charging costs at a location in Wolverhampton skyrocket from £87 a year to £33,651, representing an astonishing increase of 38,579%. Similarly, Fastned is reportedly paying £41,000 annually to maintain a site in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire.

Industry insiders are expressing concern that public charging infrastructure is essential for the widespread adoption of EVs. Still, these rising costs could deter drivers from switching from petrol and diesel vehicles.

ChargeUK explained that changes introduced in 2023 now calculate prices based on the size of a site’s grid connection instead of actual power usage. This means that operators are burdened with high fixed costs, regardless of how much energy they consume.

Asif Ghafoor, the chief executive of Be.EV stated that the company may abandon plans for a new hub in North Yorkshire due to annual costs of around £30,000.

We need to build enough charging infrastructure so that buying an EV becomes the obvious choice,” he said. “At the moment, we simply absorb these high-standing charges, but that is not sustainable.”

According to Zapmap data from February 2026, the UK currently has 118,321 EV chargers across 45,561 locations. Government targets for 2030 vary, with estimates ranging from 250,000 to 550,000 public chargers, compared with the Johnson government’s earlier target of 300,000.

In response to these challenges, Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed an additional £100 million for public EV chargers in the recent Autumn Budget, supplementing the £400 million already committed in the 2025 Spending Review to accelerate the rollout and ensure that infrastructure keeps pace with the growing demand for electric vehicles.