George Nixon, writing in the Sunday Times recently drew attention to the huge benefit of home-charging an electric car - and the difficulty in achieving it if you don't have off-street parking at home.

The cost savings are startling:-

Besides the huge cost saving, there are also convenience benefits to the owner, and several benefits to the nation:-

	EV Owners = Save at least £500 per year. Off-peak, they buy the cheapest possible electricity (9p/kWh), or even use free electricity if they have solar panels. = They don’t have to park at a distant charge point, and walk in the dark to move the car to avoid overstay charges. = They can park outside their house, convenient for unloading kids and shopping, and where they can keep an eye on their car.
	EV Transition  and Air Quality Having access to off peak electricity at home, removes an obstacle to ownership of an EV and improves urban air quality for everyone.
	Electricity Generation Facilitating overnight charging will:- = Reduce the peak load on the grid, = Make better use of overnight wind power, = Minimise the need to build new power stations (to replace our end-of life nuclear plants). = When the change from gas central heating to heat pumps increases the daytime electricity demand, it would be very helpful to push EV charging into the night, when the heat pumps are off
	Vehicle to Grid and Vehicle to Home The Octopus PowerLoop Trial with Nissan and Mitsubishi demonstrated that the huge batteries in cars can store solar or off-peak electricity for use in the home, or to profitably sell back to the grid at peak times. It’s another way to relieve pressure on the generating capacity, and it needs cars to stay connected for long periods – at home.
	Electricity Distribution Many public charge point installations are now held up, waiting for connection to the grid. Home charge points don’t need any new grid connection because a 7kW home charger is no greater load than a 7kW electric shower, or an electric cooker.
	Levelling Up The 6 million households who have to park on the street – unable to use their own cheap overnight electricity should not have to pay more to charge their cars.