Charge at Night, Power by Day: The EV Revolution Nobody Is Talking About

The Labour Government has repeatedly talked about creating “Energy Independence,” but so far has achieved relatively little. However, it does have an ambitious 10-year plan to develop more wind and nuclear power, allowing the country to be weaned off polluting fossil fuels,often sourced from politically unacceptable countries such as Russia or Iran.

The key issue with electricity generation is that it is very difficult to turn it up or down to match demand, with capacity currently set to peak between 6 pm and 10 pm.

The National Grid can be partially balanced by using excess electricity at night in hydroelectric projects, where water is pumped uphill to higher reservoirs and then used to generate electricity during the day when it is allowed to flow downhill again. However, a large amount of excess night-time electricity is wasted and released as heat via substations.

The shift to electric cars (EVs) provides several opportunities to balance the National grid, as they are the largest batteries ever installed in domestic houses.

Dual Electricity Tariffs to encourage night-time charging.

EV owners need to be incentivised to charge their cars at night by replacing the current flat-rate electricity pricing of 24.67p per kWh with dual tariffs, offering low 7p night-time rates for EV owners to charge overnight using their charging settings. By law, all EVs have automatic charging settings to charge at the right time. This 75% saving will strongly incentivise EV drivers to charge their cars when the National Grid's demand is lowest, but, in my opinion, this should be compulsory rather than optional for all electricity providers to provide these dual tariffs.

It will never be possible for consumers to be “Forced” to charge at night, as we live in a democracy where such Big Brother attitudes would not be welcomed. Many EV drivers living in flats rely on daytime charging at the office, which is often still free, as directors often use the loop whole to receive one of the few business benefits that is not subject to BIK tax.

Although no solar power is generated at night, wind power is generally generated equally during the day and at night. It is therefore vital to ensure that this night-time clean energy is not wasted, and EV batteries are an obvious solution.

Your Car is now the biggest battery you have ever attached to your house, and it’s a lot more convenient than paying to have massive batteries installed in your garage.

Vehicle to Home (V2H) and Vehicle to Grid (V2G) power.

Already, Nissan, Ford, Hyundai and BYD are all building EV models that support bi-directional charging

During the night, most EVs can be fully charged, ready for the commute the next day, and will still have 80% of their battery charge left when they are reconnected to the house at 6 pm.

 This charge can be used to power the house during the peak electricity usage period between 6-10 pm, when households are charged 24p per kWh by the national grid, giving a 68% arbitrage saving, as the car was charged overnight at 7p. This same process will then repeat as the car is charged too full overnight.  

Why you need to plan your move to an EV now!

The 20% increase in petrol pump fuel prices is ramping up demand for Electric Vehicles (EVs). This, combined with the highly tax-efficient “Salary Sacrifice Schemes” that allow employers to provide EVs as a company perk at a 42% discount compared to personal leases, has driven a surge in demand for EVs. However, the government’s ZEV mandate dictates that car manufacturers must sell 33% of new cars as EVs in 2026. This means there is a substantial excess of EVs over the natural demand of 24% seen in 2025, which has wiped out the historic price premium of EVs over their electric equivalents and means that there are a lot of real bargains in the market.

A lot of these bargains are often “dumped” by manufacturers into opaque “Salary Sacrifice Schemes”, where lease prices are bundled with Maintenance, Insurance and Early Termination cover, because these items also attract the 50% tax saving, making it the most attractive way to obtain an EV for anyone thinking about making the switch.

 The economics of moving to an EV are compelling, with operating costs 66% lower than those of their I.C.E. (Internal Combustion Engine) equivalents. This gap is set to widen as electricity “price inflation” is 50% lower than at the petrol pump, simply because only half of electricity generation is based on fossil fuels.

At ECO, the Electric Car Organisation, we strongly recommend against buying an EV because the second-hand EV market remains weak, leading to higher depreciation on new EVs. Instead, consumers should lease an EV via their employers to make the most of the Government's 50% tax breaks whilst they are available. 

Leasing your first EV for a 3–4-year period also makes it much easier to upgrade to the latest and greatest EVs as battery range continues to improve. 

Most consumers know what each car manufacturer delivers in terms of quality versus price in the I.C.E world. However, the move to EVs throws much of this out of the window, as EVs may look the same as their petrol cousins but are radically different beasts. The skills required to create the best electric engines, batteries, and software for EVs have little, if any, foundation in the old petrol manufacturing world, so don’t give a car brand credit for itshistory alone.

Summary

The Government is missing a massive trick by failing to consider how EVs can be used to balance energy use and storage. As well as moving to more sustainable and locally sourced energy, we also need to consider how best to store this energy in our new EVs and use it to balance the National Grid.