Petrol prices are down, so why are drivers still losing money?

Fuel prices dipped again last month. Petrol fell to £1.35 a litre, and diesel to £1.43.

So, why aren’t drivers feeling any richer? 

Because the real cost of driving has never just been about fuel prices. It’s everything else: tax, servicing, depreciation, and those surprise bills that always land at the worst time.

Meanwhile, EV drivers are quietly dodging the chaos. Here’s how. 

The silent spenders

Even if you’re spending less at the pump than before, there are plenty of other places your money disappears.

• Tax: Petrol and diesel drivers pay full Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) every year. EV drivers pay just £10 for the first year, then £16.25 per month. And if you’re with Octopus EV, we handle it all for you.
  • New from 2028: EVs will have a mileage-based “eVED” charge (starting at 3p per mile). For an average driver doing 8,300 miles/year, that works out to around £249, on top of existing VED. But don’t worry if you already have a car with us through our EV salary sacrifice scheme, or have ordered one. We’ve always worked hard to keep costs low, which means you won’t have to pay any more than you do now, even when the new tax comes in.
• Servicing: Engines are complicated. Electric motors aren’t. No oil changes, no exhausts, no gearboxes. All that means the average EV driver saves £79 a year on servicing alone.
• Depreciation: Petrol and diesel cars sometimes cost less upfront, but they lose value fast. And with the UK’s 2035 ban looming, their resale could drop even more. 

So, how do EVs do it? Charging is the first big win. Plug in at home, and you’ll almost certainly save. Smart tariffs like Intelligent Octopus Go make overnight charging ridiculously cheap, and new policies are being introduced to make it accessible to more drivers. 

Even without a driveway, public charging’s still usually cheaper than filling up. The Octopus Electroverse app gives you access to over a million charging stations across Europe, with clear pricing and exclusive discounts that make it easy to save.

The government’s also boosting public charging with an extra £200m and full business rate relief, helping more chargers appear faster and potentially keeping prices lower for drivers.

Home charging can cost less than 5p per kWh, while the petrol equivalent can be just below 20p

Buying nearly-new is another way to save. 80% of EVs are now cheaper than their petrol or diesel equivalents, including 12 of the top 15 most popular used cars from 2022-2023.

And then there’s EV salary sacrifice, which saves you money by reducing the amount of tax you pay. That adds up to around £2,194 versus a petrol car on the same scheme. 

Even better, the Electric Car Grant is being extended and expanded until 2028-29. The discount will continue to make eligible EVs cheaper, and can be used whether you get your car through salary sacrifice or a personal lease. 

The government’s also raising the Expensive Car Supplement (ECS) threshold for electric cars from £40,000 to £50,000 from April 2026, which means fewer EVs will get hit by the charge.

Lots of employees are already using our EV salary sacrifice scheme to save on their commutes. 

Dan Jones, Senior Product Supply Manager at Huel, ran the numbers before making the switch. “Net net, including depreciation even on a secondhand car, with all the fuel and electricity cost differences, I’m about £200 up a month,” he says.

And for Ben Burrows, Interim Chief Medical Officer at Sirona Care & Health, home charging is the real game-changer. “When I charge at home on Octopus Energy’s Agile tariff, it costs just £6 or £7 for a full charge. It’s a huge saving compared to petrol.”

Switching to an EV isn’t just about cutting your fuel bills. It’s also about making your costs more predictable. With cheaper charging and servicing, and huge tax benefits, EVs are a no-brainer if you want to drive for less and avoid any nasty surprises.