Should You Rent Out Your EV Charger?

This week saw the government bring forward the ban on new petrol and diesel cars to 2035.

One of the most pressing challenges in encouraging people to switch to electric cars is building an extensive charging network. Most people charge at home, but there is always going to be a time when you need to top up on the go. A novel solution is to bolster the number of available chargers by opening up privately owned points for public use - peer-to-peer (P2P) electric vehicle charging.

When Zap-Map launched its P2P network, surveys found 48% of chargepoint owners were willing to share their unit (either for free or payment). This equates to an extra 60,000 chargers joining the national network, a decent blow to range anxiety.

So should you consider renting out your EV charging point?

How much could you earn?

On most P2P platforms, you set a flat fee for the use of your chargepoint.

• Let’s say you go for a price of £6 per charging slot. We’ll model this on a Nissan Leaf with a 40kWh battery.
• At 15p/kWh of electricity, an 80% charge would cost you £4.80, leaving £1.20 profit per charge.
• At this rate, it would take 542 charges to pay back an average chargepoint (£650 installed) - 18 months if one charge purchased per day.

This is a worst case scenario - the profit would be much greater if a charge is less than 80%, your electricity rate is lower than 15p/kWh (especially if you’re using free solar power), or if you charge more than £6.

How long would it take to pay back the chargepoint otherwise?

Let’s look at the cost of charging an EV vs driving a traditional vehicle (petrol or diesel) and see how those savings stack up against the cost of an EV chargepoint.

Fuel for a typical internal combustion engine (ICE) costs 12p per mile. A Nissan Leaf charge is 3p per mile at a rate of 15p/kWh - but this is often cheaper with an off-peak or EV tariff.

You’d have to drive 7,222 miles to pay off the average cost of the charger (£650). To put this in perspective, the average person in the UK drives 7,900 miles a year. So compared to driving a petrol car, the chargepoint would be paid back within 1 year anyway.

If you rent out your chargepoint for 5 charges a week (at £6 each) and drive an average number of miles, the earnings and savings compared to using a petrol car means that your charger would be paid off in 33 weeks.

Benefits of renting out your chargepoint

• You achieve faster payback of your system (or even the chance to turn a profit!).
• You help to alleviate range anxiety among new and potential EV owners, supporting uptake of zero emission cars.

Drawbacks of renting out your chargepoint

• You have to be comfortable with strangers using your driveway.
• You must accept the risk of damage or increased wear-and-tear from more people using your equipment.
• You have to deal with the hassle of arranging charge times and payments.

Where to get started

• Zap-Home - an app-based map of domestic chargepoints.
• Zap-Work - the equivalent network for small business owners.
• Bookmycharge - an online list of domestic chargers available to rent.

Learn more about home EV charging

We’ve recently published a complete guide to domestic EV chargers - covering charging jargon, brand comparisons, costs, grants and what the future might hold. Download it for free today: