Drivers in Stone making regular journeys to Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent or farther afield may be able to cut their annual fuel costs substantially by switching to an electric car, though the savings depend heavily on where the vehicle is charged and how many miles it covers.
Running costs: petrol versus electric
A petrol car returning 40 miles per gallon costs around 18p per mile to run when petrol is priced close to £1.58 a litre. Over 8,000 miles annually, that comes to roughly £1,435 a year, or just under £120 a month.
An electric car averaging 3.5 miles for each kilowatt hour would cost about 7.5p per mile when charged at the current standard domestic electricity rate of approximately 26p per kilowatt hour. That works out at around £597 over the same 8,000 miles.
The cost falls much further for drivers who can use an overnight electric vehicle tariff. At an off-peak price of around 8.8p per kilowatt hour, the charging bill would be close to £200 a year — a saving of more than £1,200 against the petrol example.
These figures are illustrations rather than exact quotes. Efficiency varies between cars and can be affected by temperature, speed, driving style and the use of heating or air conditioning.
Home charging access in Stone
The biggest barrier to achieving maximum savings is having access to home charging. In Stone, residents of terraced properties and some homes near the town centre may not have a driveway or another place to install a private charger.
Staffordshire County Council is currently gathering views on possible cross-pavement charging channels. These would allow a cable to run between a home charger and a vehicle parked on the road without leaving a loose cable across the pavement. The council's survey closes on Sunday 9 August 2026, although completing it does not guarantee that a charging channel will be installed.
Public charging costs more
Drivers who depend on public chargers face a different calculation. In June 2026, the average pay-as-you-go price was around 54p per kilowatt hour for chargers below 50kW and 79p for rapid and ultra-rapid chargers.
At those prices, the same electric car would cost around 15p per mile on a slower public charger and nearly 23p per mile on a rapid charger. This means slower public charging may still be cheaper than petrol, but regular use of rapid chargers could cost more.
Vehicle Excise Duty changes
Electric cars are no longer exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty. For the 2026 to 2027 tax year, a new electric car pays £10 in its first year. Most electric cars registered since April 2017 then move to the standard annual rate of £200, the same as most recent petrol cars.
Before choosing an electric car, drivers should check where it will normally be charged rather than basing the decision on the cheapest overnight tariff available elsewhere.
