Electric Car Insurance

Electric cars and vans are powered by electric motors. They use rechargeable batteries, rather than petrol or diesel fuel.

They can be charged with a charging cable plugged into a charging point at home, or at a public charging station.

It can take between 30 minutes to 12 hours to reach full charge, depending on lots of different factors.

If you're charging your car on the street, it's possible someone could trip over the cable - but don't worry.

If that happens and they're hurt, your policy is there to protect you. You just need to have made sure the cable was safe, visible and not a trip hazard while you were charging.

Your cable is covered if it came with your car or is a replacement from the manufacturer. Other cables aren't included.

A hybrid car uses both a traditional petrol engine and an electric motor as power sources. But an electric car is fully powered by electrical sources.

The cost of fully charging an electric vehicle depends on its battery size. Most people charge their car at home and pay their energy supplier.

Some public charging stations are free, but you might need to pay for others. Rapid charging points are usually more expensive than regular charging points because they charge your battery faster.

Yes, if you're charging your EV at home.

How much it costs depends on how big your battery is, and how much you pay per unit of electricity.

It's worth shopping around for your electric provider to see who offers the best rates.

Yes, you do.

They used to be exempt but that changed on 1 April 2025.

• All news EVs registered after 1 April 2025 - need to pay £10 tax in the first year. This goes up to £195 from the second year onwards. It applies to all EVs, regardless of how much they cost.
• EVs registered between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2025 - need to pay £195 per year.
• EVs registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 - are in the new 'Band B' rate, which is currently set at £20 a year.

If you have an EV that was registered after 1 April 2025 and is worth over £40,000, you'll need to pay premium car tax as well. That comes to £425, which you'll need to pay yearly until the car is six years old.

Check out our in-depth guide on road tax for EVs.

To reduce the cost of buying an electric car, some manufacturers (like Renault and Nissan) let you buy the car and lease its battery separately.

The monthly lease usually costs less than two full tanks of fuel. That means you're not just saving money on running costs, but you're also doing a fair bit for the environment!

You should let us know when you take out your policy if you're leasing the battery. If the car is written off, we need to make sure the money for the car and its battery go to the right people.