Customers of the RAC’s newly launched electric vehicle service will be offered the chance to have a smart home charge point installed by a British Gas engineer as well as an electricity tariff designed to make overnight electric car charging cheaper.

The charger can be controlled via a smartphone using the Hive app. This allows drivers to see if the car is plugged in and charging and helps them save money as they can choose to schedule charges to take place overnight when the electricity rate is cheaper. In addition, they can also look back at their daily, weekly and yearly charging, to see the cost and their electricity usage.

The two firms say scheduled charging via the Hive app could save customers up to £300 on their home electric bill.

The RAC launched its electric vehicle leasing service earlier this month with the aim of making switching to an electric car more affordable.

Sarah Winward-Kotecha, RAC director of electric vehicles, said: “We’re very excited to have teamed up with British Gas to offer home charge points and a bespoke EV electricity tariff as they’re as synonymous with taking care of people’s energy needs as we are with fixing and rescuing cars.”

Customers wanting the bespoke tariff will need to have a British Gas electric smart meter installed so off-peak charging can be tracked.