- Hive SmartCharge service cheapest way to charge electric vehicles in the UK and the chance to get money off energy bills
- New customers of its Hive chargers can also get a year’s worth of charging for free with FreeCharge
British Gas claims it is offering the cheapest way to charge your EV, and says new customers who buy a Hive charger can get a year’s worth of charging for free.
Hive SmartCharge users can benefit from a 4p/kWh saving on all their EV charging, which could mean up to £298 per year in savings, which British Gas will automatically credit to customers’ energy bills.
The energy giant says this means that it now offers cheapeste way to charge EVs with its Hive SmartCharge service.
The company says: “All you need to do is enable the free SmartCharge feature in the Hive app, leave your EV plugged in and we’ll automatically charge your EV when energy is at its cheapest during that charging session. Combined with our Electric Driver tariff you could be paying an effective rate of just 4.95p/kWh for your EV charging if you plug in overnight between 12am – 5am.”
The 4.95p/kWh tariff is competitive, it seems, when compared to Octopus’s Intelligent Go off-peak rate of 7.5p/kWh and Ovo Anytime’s tariff of 7p/kWh (check links on our tariffs page here).
Hive SmartCharge is available to British Gas electricity customers via the Hive app and. British Gas’s FreeCharge promotion is also offering 12 months of free home charging (or 12 months’ free home charging) to new customers who buy one of their Hive EV chargers.
Kim Royds, Director of Mobility, Centrica New Business and Net Zero said: “We’re committed to making the transition to net zero simple and affordable and electric vehicles play a key part in this. Through our innovative SmartCharge offering, we’re helping EV owners take charge of their energy bills and access the cheapest EV charging rate on the market while also helping manage the demand on the grid.”
Using the SmartCharge service British Gas will credit users 4p for every kWh of charge if their EV is plugged in for six hours or more and 2p for every kWh if the EV is plugged in for less than six hours.
With its FreeCharge offer, customers will benefit from up to 8,000 miles of free EV charging.
The offer is available to new and existing British Gas electricity customers who have a smart meter and have purchased one of Hive’s EV Chargers.
Chargers can be ordered with or without installation by British Gas, either through Hive or one of its partners including Amazon, Costco, Screwfix, Toolstation and City Plumbing Supplies. Customers don’t need a specific tariff and for customers that don’t yet have a smart meter, British Gas says it will install one for free.
For more information go to: Hive and britishgas.co.uk.
