Does a dynamic contract pay off with an electric car?
Often yes, if the car charges during cheap hours: at night or on sunny afternoons. A car uses a lot and can usually wait, so its charging is easy to shift. If it charges straight away when you get home in the expensive early evening, the advantage disappears.
An electric car can raise a household's electricity usage considerably. With a fixed contract it doesn't matter when it charges. With a dynamic contract it does: the difference between cheap and expensive hours counts for every kWh that goes into the car.
Smart charging
Many charge points and cars can charge during the cheapest hours, via the supplier's app or the charge point's app. You set how full the car must be at a given time; the rest happens automatically.
With solar panels
If the car is at home during the day, it can also charge on solar surplus. That uses the same electricity you would otherwise feed back cheaply. The calculator works out charging during cheap hours and on solar together.
Calculate what smart charging saves you
An estimate, not personal advice. How the calculator works: How does this calculator work?
Other questions
- Does a home battery pay off?
- What changes when net metering ends?
- Do solar panels still pay off without net metering?
- Fixed or dynamic contract: which is cheaper?
- What is a dynamic energy contract?
- Is a dynamic contract smart with solar panels?
- How do I compare dynamic energy contracts?
- What are the risks of a dynamic contract?
- What are feed-in costs?
- What will the end of net metering cost me?
- Should I cancel my fixed contract before net metering ends?
- Does a home battery make sense without solar panels?
- Should I switch off my solar panels when power prices are negative?
- Does it pay to charge the electric car on solar power?
- Does a heat pump suit a dynamic contract?
- How do I read my annual electricity statement?
- What is a feed-in tariff?
- How much of my solar power do I use myself?
- Battery, charger, heat pump or another contract: what first?
- How big should my home battery be?
- Does a home battery make sense with a fixed contract?
- Plug-in battery or fixed home battery?
- How much energy does a home battery lose?
- Is electricity cheap at night with a dynamic contract?
- What does a home battery do in winter?
- How much electricity do I use at night?
- Does a home battery suit a heat pump?
- Which energy comparison site can I trust?
- How do I calculate the payback time of a home battery?
- What do time-dependent network tariffs mean for me?