Data doodling on the UK costs of an EV v a petrol car – now that the price of oil is close to 60 bucks a barrel in the UK’s government run energy markets
UK politicians have embroiled themselves in energy markets for decades. They cannot help themselves. As a result, the price of energy is hyper inflated to unbearable levels.
The tax rate on a barrel of North Sea oil is around 78% - mainly because of a surcharge following the “spike” resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
From here:
Brent crude oil - Price - Chart - Historical Data - News
The strip curve with live prices out for a year or so is here:
Crude Oil Brent Prices and Crude Oil Brent Futures Prices - Barchart.com
The price has fallen back to pre-invasion levels.
The left-wing rag, the BBC reported on the Marxist Labour government’s response as follows:
UK government to end North Sea windfall tax in 2030 - BBC News
Note the swamping of pearl clutching ginger groups. But this telling response from Apache:
“The latest rise prompted the US-based firm Apache to announce it would end its North Sea operations by 2029.
The company described the financial impact as "onerous," adding continuing to operate in the area would be "uneconomic".”
The tax rate on UK companies producing oil from the North Sea is around 78 per cent, all up. It is made up of a convoluted political equation that has been arrived at and is described on the UK Parliamentary website here:
Taxation of North Sea oil and gas - House of Commons Library
Clear as mud, right? This is how the UK government treats its people seeking a straight answer.
Let’s play with some numbers.
From Brave AI:
“A barrel of oil, which is equal to 42 US gallons or approximately 159 liters, can yield about 73 liters of petrol after refining.”
Let’s allow th il companies to keep all the other distillates etc, as profit
73 litres of petrol per barrel at the current spot price of 62 bucks – which works out at 84 cents a liter or around 66 pence (US$1.28 per £).
Last month, the average price of petrol was £1.36/liter.
From here: Tax as percentage of UK pump price
“Fuel duty is currently levied at a flat rate of 52.95p per litre for both petrol and diesel, while VAT at 20% is then charged on both the product price and the duty.”
One wonders what the price of petrol would be without a 78 per cent tax on its production!
Leave that aside.
Let’s run some numbers on the cost of recharging a Renault 5 EV compared to filling up a 1.5-liter Ford Puma.
For the Renault 5 EV (from Brave AI):
“The Renault 5 EV with a 40kWh battery is expected to have an official range of around 186 miles, but this can be affected by factors such as colder weather. The range may be shorter in real-world driving conditions due to variables like heating and cooling usage.”
Using the standard variable household rate for electricity, we have this cost to recharge - using a 52-kwh charger rather than the 40 kwh.
Cost = 52kWh×26.5p/kWh=1378p
You would need 400 miles/168 miles charges to complete 400 miles = 2.4 charges at £13.78 per charge = £32.81.
“A full charge at home from a 7.4kW home wall box charger will take around seven hours for the larger 52kWh battery.”
Ouch! 2.4 charges would take around 17 hours!
Now let’s check out the 1.5 L Ford Puma:
“The Ford Puma's fuel efficiency varies, but generally, it can travel around 400 miles on a full tank of petrol when driven sensibly.
“,,, the 1.5-liter engine, it is 45 liters.”
So, you can travel 400 miles for 45 X £1.36 = £61.20 pence.
On th face of it, the Renault 5 EV costs half the price of the 1.5 L Ford Puma.
Now remove the government tax on the production from the North Sea AND the 52.95 pence fuel duty AND the 20% VAT.
Now factor in the subsidies and tax breaks on domestic electricity supply – with oil, gas and nuclear supplying the cheap parts of energy and wind and solar increasing the price with much higher costs for electricity production and you have EVs costing substantially MORE than petrol engines to run!
Will the government ever come “clean” on this sort of data? Of course not! It is a religion, not reality!
“Everyone virtue signal to the great god of stupid!!!”
Out of interest, from here:
US Gas Prices: See Where Your State Stacks Up | LendingTree
“Mississippi has the lowest average gas price, at $2.64 per gallon, ahead of Oklahoma ($2.67) and Texas and Kentucky (both at $2.68).”
“As of March 18, 2025, the highest average gas price is in California ($4.65 per gallon). Hawaii ($4.53) and Washington ($4.08) follow.”
There are around 3.8 liters in a US gallon, which makes the price of petrol/gas in those cheapest us States around $2.58 divided by 3.8 liters per gallon divided by Us$1.28/£ = 55 pence per liter compared to the £1.31 charged in the UK.
Small wonder that UK GDP/capita is lower than that of Missouri – the lowest GDP/capita in the USA!
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