If your report landed on “switch now”, the calculator is showing one of the stronger savings scenarios we see. Usually that means home charging, decent mileage, and a current car that is pricey to run. It is a useful signal, not a same-day instruction.
Most EV content online falls into two camps: evangelical (“just do it”) or dismissive (“still too expensive”). Neither is much use if you are trying to decide whether your petrol bill justifies a £30k purchase. The useful question is narrower: given how you actually drive, charge, and buy cars, does the running-cost gap close the upfront gap before you get bored of the thing?
We are not predicting the future of battery prices or second-hand values with a crystal ball. We compare what you told us about your current car — fuel spend, tax band, typical maintenance — against a representative EV in the budget you picked, using UK pump prices and electricity tariffs we keep updated in the background.
A “switch now” verdict is our shorthand for “the annual running-cost gap looks like £800 or more with home charging in the mix.” That is a deliberately conservative bar. Below that, you may still save money, but other factors (finance, hassle, resale) start to matter more than fuel alone.
£800 a year is not life-changing money for everyone. For some households it is a nice holiday; for others it is the difference between a comfortable PCP payment and a stretch. We use it because it is big enough that home charging and mileage are doing real work — not because it is a magic threshold ordained by the universe.
No. It means the running-cost case looks strong on your inputs. Timing still depends on finance, resale value, and whether you actually want an EV.
It is a practical cut-off where home charging and mileage usually produce a gap large enough to matter against typical UK fuel spend. Smaller savings fall into our “consider” band.