Most EV tariff examples assume the car is plugged in from late evening until morning. That is the wrong picture for night shifts, early starts that leave before the cheap window, and carers who are out while the off-peak hours run. Price the unit rate for the hours the car is actually at home. A wallbox still helps if those hours are cheaper than public charging, or if a daytime solar array would otherwise export.
The cheap window you never see
Write down a normal week: when the car arrives, when it leaves, and which of those hours sit inside the cheap rate on your tariff. A window from half past midnight to half past five is worthless if the vehicle is in a hospital car park. The headline overnight price on a comparison site is then a neighbour's bill, not yours.
Some tariffs offer a cheaper daytime slot, or a rate that follows the wholesale price. Read the hours on the tariff sheet. Economy 7 style nights do not move just because your shift pattern did.
An illustrative year, labelled as arithmetic
A driver covering 10,000 miles at about 0.3 kilowatt hours a mile uses about 3,000 kilowatt hours for propulsion. At an illustrative 28 pence per kilowatt hour, all of it in the daytime, the energy is about £840. At an illustrative 15 pence, if a cheap window actually matches the hours at home, it is about £450. Those pence figures are worked examples, not a forecast of the price cap or of your deal.
The standing charge stays on the household bill either way. Public rapid sessions, parking and idle fees sit on a separate line. Do not mix them into the home unit rate.
Solar only helps if the car is there
A roof that generates through the middle of the day suits a car that is on the drive then. Exporting that energy and buying it back later is often the worse trade, because export rates are commonly lower than the import rate, but check the figures on your own bill rather than a forum average.
A solar-matching charger is useful when generation and the car overlap for several hours. If you are only home for a 40 minute overlap, the matching feature will not repay a more expensive unit. A plain schedule in the hours you are home can be enough.
What to ask for on the wall
You want a charger that can hold a schedule in the hours you choose, and a clear way to start a charge when you get in at 08:30. App-only controls fail when you are tired and the phone is downstairs. A button or a simple override matters more for shift work than a dashboard of monthly badges.
Preconditioning the cabin from the mains works when the car is plugged in before you leave. It does nothing for a car that spent the night at work.
When home charging is still the right default
Even at a flat daytime rate, home energy is often cheaper per kilowatt hour than a rapid public charger, and you avoid the queue. Run the comparison with your tariff and one real public receipt, not with a national average from last winter.
If the car is never at home for more than an hour, a wallbox will not pay for itself on energy alone. Workplace charging, if you can get it, may be the shift that actually matches the vehicle.
Frequently asked questions
Is an EV tariff a waste if I work nights?
It is a waste if you never charge in its cheap hours. Compare the day rate you would actually pay with a simpler single-rate deal, including any extra standing charge.
Will a bigger charger fix a short daytime stop?
Only up to the car's onboard AC limit and the house supply. On a normal single-phase home that is about 7kW, roughly 7 kilowatt hours in an hour before losses. A 22kW wallbox does not change that.
Should I use solar and a cheap night rate together?
Yes if the car is sometimes home in both windows. Programme the charger for the hours that really happen, and check a week's meter data before you trust the app.
Does the wallbox change the price of a kilowatt hour?
No. It changes whether the session finishes before you leave, and whether you are on a dedicated circuit rather than a domestic socket.
Core buying guides
Start with these high-intent guides, then dig into the rest of the library.
Related guides
Sources and further reading
How this guide was prepared
This guide was written by the Local EV Installers Editorial Team. We compare official guidance, legislation and established consumer information, separate general information from project-specific advice, and show publication dates and sources. We do not accept installer accreditation claims at face value.