Motoring guides
Clear answers to common questions about fuel, charging an electric car and UK number plates, checked against official sources.
Fuel
Petrol and diesel explained: fuel types, prices and how to pay less.
- Fuel E10 vs E5 petrol: which should you use? What E10 and E5 petrol are, whether your car can use E10, what happens if you use the wrong one, and how much more E5 costs today.
- Fuel Is supermarket fuel as good as branded fuel? Whether supermarket petrol and diesel are lower quality than branded fuel, what premium fuels add, and how much you save at the supermarket today.
- Fuel Why is diesel more expensive than petrol in the UK? Why diesel costs more than petrol at UK pumps even though the fuel duty is the same, and what the gap is today.
- Fuel How to save money on fuel: 12 practical tips Simple, proven ways to spend less on petrol and diesel – from where you fill up to how you drive and look after your car.
EV charging
Charging an electric car: speeds, connectors, costs and how to pay.
- EV charging Slow, fast, rapid and ultra-rapid EV chargers explained What the different EV charger speeds mean in kW, how long each takes to charge a typical electric car, and where you'll find them.
- EV charging Type 2, CCS and CHAdeMO: EV charging connectors explained The plugs used to charge electric cars in the UK, which one your car uses, and whether you need to bring your own cable.
- EV charging How much does it cost to charge an electric car in the UK? What it costs to charge an electric car at home and on public chargers, with worked examples using current prices.
- EV charging Do you need an app to charge an electric car? How to pay at UK public chargers, when you can use a contactless bank card, and what the 2023 charging regulations guarantee drivers.
Private plates
How UK number plates work, the rules, and buying a personalised registration.
- Private plates How do UK number plates work? What the letters and numbers on a UK registration mean, how the format has changed, and what a private (personalised) plate is.
- Private plates Number plate age identifiers explained (2001 to 2027) What the two numbers on a UK number plate mean, a full table of age identifiers from 2001 to 2027, and which private plates you can put on your car.
- Private plates Private number plate rules: what's allowed in the UK? The rules on which private registrations you can put on your car and how number plates must be displayed – fonts, spacing, colours, flags and fines.
- Private plates How to buy and transfer a private number plate Where to buy a private registration, what the V750 and V778 certificates are, how to put a number on your car or take it off, and what it costs.