[woodcote]

So my grocery spend is now subsidising other peoples' fuel consumption. I doubt they are going to give me free petrol next time I fill up though!

Any EV charging costs are probably dwarfed by other costs your grocery shop is subsidising - and that all started with the shift to out-of-town hypermarkets through the nineties and noughties. Cheap petrol was a key mechanism to win new customers and maintain loyalty. A lot has changed in the UK fuel retail market since then, but all shoppers continue to subsidise lower petrol prices and fuel promotions via their grocery spend.

Then there's the ongoing costs of infrastructure improvements, community schemes and bus services that were part of the original planning deals - to mitigate environmental and social impacts. When I shop at my nearerst Sainsbury's superstore, my grocery spend subsidises a bus that runs a few times a day through numerous local communities not served by regular bus services and ends up at Sainsbury's. It is often quite busy - and not just with Sainsbury's customers. I think that's a good subsidy.

The latest, biggest and maddest subsidy is online home delivery. It has made the average out-of-town supermarket more like an Amazon warehouse, with teams of poorly-paid pickers going round the aisles doing other people's shopping. It's a dubious business model at best and makes little economic sense for the supermarkets. There is an insane drive to offer better home delivery services to capture more of the market share, but every extra delivery means an extra loss for the business. Those of us who physically shop in store massively subsidise those who don't. We do the job of a picker, driver and often a checkout worker for free, using our own vehicle and our own fuel - but we pay the same price for our groceries.

Advertising 'free EV charging' is a gimmick, because when I've seen it, all the older, smaller limited-range Zoes and Leafs are parked in the disabled parking spots next to the Supermarket doors, not on the chargers. I'm sure these drivers charge at home overnight and have plenty of range for their routine activities. The people these stores are going for with the EV charging gimmick is undoubtedly those driving big, expensive electric SUVs - but I suspect they are doing their grocery shopping from Ocado.