With an ongoing war in Iran-US/Isreal, the price of oil has surpassed peaks set back in 2008 during the Financial crisis. For reference, North Sea oil prices were ~$60 dollars at the start of the year, and have hit $147 this week. Costs are fluctating significantly, with the price of fuel reacting to the pumps on forecourts almost instantaniously in recent times, always up in price, almost never instantaniously back down (which anyone purchasing electricity can understand as this has been seen in the electricity market as well in the past).
As per The AA March Fuel prices report, Petrol was €1.81 and Diesel €1.90. This has shot above the €2 mark for diesel since then however, the main fuel source for commercial vehicles. Which has lead to Fuel protest this week over the costs of fuel and concerns around loss of businesses due to these dramatic increases. Checking data from tolls.eu Fuel prices in Europe as of the 6th of April (latest data available at time of writing), Petrol is at €1.88 and in 14th place for most expensive, while Diesel is at €2.10 and in 18th place for most expensive in Europe. This shows that there are large swings ongoing in pricing, and we are not even at the worst of these pricing figures versus other countries in Europe. Not good for anyone.
Firstly lets outline that BEV has gone through similar-ish pricing issues in the past. As the price of Gas increased significantly in 2022 due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, electricity costs have risen for both home and public charging. Prices have come down since then for home charging, but not so much for public charging. What has not happened to date outside of storms causing widespread disruption, is that electricity supplies to homes, businesses and public charging have not been impacted for other widespread reasons. So consistency in supply and pricing has been a huge positive to users in this regard.
A negative point often thrown at EV is that you will be left without an ability to refuel in many different scenarios. However as seen in our reporting from Storm Éowyn, the opposite was seen in many cases, that is to say that EVs were able to charge in a large majority of cases and were of even greater benefit! As it currently stands, anyone with an EV can charge both at home or on the public network without restricitions (Yes ok, there can and will still be queues at times, and more is required to bolster our current infrastructure to not have this occur). Currently their 'fuel' is not impacted due to blockages at fuel depots restriciting supply, showing a robust nature to EVs to their ability to be able to charge & stay moving.
Now this is not to gloat or to show off, but to show that these often negative remarks to this exact sort of issue with EVs are not being seen here and now, and currently NO electric vehicles are caught for 'fuel'. We are in the Early Majority stage (20-50% of sales being fully electric) of BEV adoption with passenger sales and alot more is required for LCV and HCV to bring it to similar and higher levels. It is important to show that for those in the process or strongly considering making the switch to electric that the often negative view is not as bad as it is made out! And yes, again, we will highlight that the charging infrastructure rollout is still needed to progress faster and more widespread that it is now, but with up to 30% of households not having access to a driveway to charge at their home there is huge opportunity for the majority to consider this switch to BEV now!
Back in March of 2025, I reported on my Citroen eSpacetourer and a replacement Ford diesel van while it was undergoing some repairs. Within this, I had a table for costs. This looked like this in March 2025:
| Vehicle | Scenario | Unit cost (€) | Consumption | 500km cost |
| Citroen eSpacetourer | Night Rate (with EI) | 0.13176 | 30 kWh/100km | €20.08 |
| Citroen eSpacetourer | ESB eCars HPCP | 0.59 | 30 kWh/100km | €89.95 |
| Citroen eSpacetourer | Blended cost | 0.1776 | 30 kWh/100km | €26.63 |
| Ford Tourneo Custom | Diesel | 1.841 | 9.775 l /100km | €89.98 |
And for April 2026, it looks like below for a 9-seater passenger van, with some of the highest consumption you should tend to come across in an EV. For reference, we are using the tolls.eu pricing for this, as it is the closest to current day pricing, this is unfortunately higher again in many places already. And as you can see from the cover photo, our most recent trip to Donegal would be less than below due to its current consumption in the milder weather. We are trying to show what it is like up & towards the worst case scenario here.
| Vehicle | Scenario | Unit cost (€) | Consumption | 500km cost |
| Citroen eSpacetourer | Night Rate (with FG) | 0.1496 | 30 kWh/100km | €22.44 |
| Citroen eSpacetourer | ESB eCars HPCP | 0.66 | 30 kWh/100km | €99.00 |
| Citroen eSpacetourer | Blended cost | 0.207 | 30 kWh/100km | €30.10 |
| Ford Tourneo Custom | Diesel | 2.10 | 9.775 l /100km | €102.64 |
What this shows is that the price of both fuel sources appear to be reasonably stable over time, but it does not show the fluctuations seen in petrol and diesel, which has grown reasonably significantly in the past few weeks & months. This is in contrast to the increase in EV charging costs which have not been as significant, and is still multiples less in terms of cost to diesel directly. Yes, Public charging only is comparably as expensive to diesel costs and some other CPOs are more expensive, but the crossover point for Public HPCP as this currently stands is €2.03/l for diesel and Electric to be equal, and this ignores any subscription plans or time-of-use costs that can be used with some CPOs that could lead to even greater public charging savings. The point still stands, EV costs less.
Clearly there are real concerns around the fuel protests and the cost of living issues that people are facing. This needs to be addressed in the short to medium term, but we have to look at the long term solutions to get away from this. Electrification of our transport fleet needs to continue, and it is important that it comes about across all sectors and segments. We are working on another piece at the minute on EV analysis to Q1 of 2026, but LCV and HCV are significantly under-represented for EV adoption. While passenger vehicles are the majority of vehicles on the road at 77.29% from 2022 figures, all modes of transport need to be electrified over time. Green Collective have reported that last year saw an average of 38.4% of demand came from renewables on our grid, and a lot more is required there as grid demands increase with larger electricity demands. But with this, the long term benefits will also come about with price stability, as well as what should be a continuous supply of energy where disruptions to fueling a vehicle are greatly enhanced through greater availability of charge points and availaibility not being constrained.
Currently it is cheaper to fuel and drive an EV per km, with pricing being stable vs what is found with fossil fuels. And with this, there have been no restrictions to supply of charge for EV, the benefits to switch are hopefully becoming clearer for all. So please, reach out and talk to us if you are unsure and want to know more, we will aim to help guide and support you in your change to EV to make it work for you! We are continuing our work in bringing accurate data on Infrastructure rollout and locations, and pushing for this to be sped up in whatever means can be done. As such, we how to make this even more robust for all!