London paves way for greener future

In the aftermath of COP26 and the recent petrol crisis that has seen prices reach a record high in the UK, it seems to have influenced online interest in ‘electric vehicles’, with searches skyrocketing this year by 1,500 per cent.

Intrigued by this, Quotezone.co.uk sought to discover the cost of running an electric car compared to a petrol car in Great Britain, to see where it is worth the money and where it’s not yet cost-effective.

The car experts at Quotezone.co.uk were curious to uncover the most cost-effective regions of Great Britain to be a green motorist.

The most popular car make in each region in 2020 was extracted from gov.uk, and their most popular petrol models were collected.

Petrol prices by region per litre were extracted from petrolmap.co.uk and electric prices per kWh were obtained through gov.uk by UK regions.

London is the best region to be a green motorist
County Region Savings in cost from petrol to EV (%) Savings in cost from petrol to EV (£)
1 Inner London — East London 81.26% £1,984.12
1 Inner London — West London 81.26% £1,984.12
3 Outer London — East and 81.06% £1,958.52

East London
3 Outer London — South London 81.06% £1,958.52
3 Outer London — West and North 81.06% £1,958.52

West London
6 East Yorkshire/ Yorkshire and 80.78% £1,950.44
Northern the Humber/

Lincolnshire East Midlands
7 North Yorkshire Yorkshire and 80.76% £1,947.24
the Humber
8 West Yorkshire Yorkshire and 80.66% £1,934.44
the Humber
9 Cumbria North West 80.64% £1,990.76
10 South Yorkshire Yorkshire and 80.56% £1,923.24
the Humber

Quotezone.co.uk is able to reveal the Inner East and Inner West of London as the best place in Great Britain to be a green motorist.

With petrol prices per litre in both areas estimated at £1.526 per litre and price per kWh at £0.185, Quotezone.co.uk then estimated a year of driving equivalent to 10,000 miles.

This would suggest a total cost of £2,441.60 with a petrol car a year and just £457.48 in an electric car.

Residents from these areas could see an 81.26% decrease in costs by switching from petrol to an electric vehicle – a staggering £1,984.12 decrease in expenses per year.

All areas of London made the top 5 (Outer London: East, North East, South, West and North West) – with petrol prices at the time of analysing reading at £1.510 per litre. 10,000 miles (the estimated equivalent to a year’s driving) in a petrol vehicle would cost £2,416, five times more than in an electric car at just £457.48.

This would save residents 81.06% in expenses – £1,958.52 a year.

Greg Wilson, founder of car insurance comparison website Quotezone.co.uk said: “Fuel prices are on everyone’s lips at the moment as prices rocket and the deadline for the switch to electric vehicles looms.

“While electricity prices are also on the up, we thought it an ideal time to stop and compare, to help get a sense of where there are real savings to be had.

“Of course, there are a lot of other variables involved in choosing between petrol and electric cars such as the cost of buying the vehicle itself, the cost of installing charging infrastructure and how much they cost to tax and insure.

Electric cars tend to be more expensive to buy new but there are tax incentives from the government to help make them more affordable. Insurance wise, it’s actually become more of a level playing field as more insurance providers add electric cars to their offering, creating more competition and better value for our customers.”

Most popular petrol car and EV in London Interestingly through further analysis, Quotezone.co.uk were able to reveal the most popular petrol car model in London to be the Toyota Corolla, and the most popular electric car model to be the Hyundai Ioniq.

To see how Quotezone could save you money, go to www.quotezone.co.uk