As of right now (April 2019), the vast majority of EVs cost more than their current internal combustion engine (ICE) counterparts when you look at the price tag only. However, you have to look at the Total Cost of Ownership to really understand whether EVs are more expensive.
For example, with ICE vehicles, you have the cost of the vehicle, tax, maintenance and ofcourse the fuel! With an EV, there is no road tax, maintenance costs are low (due to less moving parts) and the electricity costs are significantly less than fuelling it with petrol or diesel. If you charge an EV home it will cost you probably around £0.08-0.10p per KWh and if you charge when you’re out and about it costs circa £0.30p. At 0.30p EV fuelling costs are still circa 20% of ICE vehicles.
Nissan Leaf’s / Renault Zoe’s and BMW i3’s cost circa £420 pcm (on a PCH agreement), the additional running costs on top of this are minimal. Now someone might look at this and say “well I can get an eqivalent ICE for circa £300, so it’s more expensive”, however, they might spend £150 pcm on fuel, then there is the vehicle tax and it’s maintenance. Meaning that actually running an ICE is more expensive than an EV.
The above ofcourse doesn’t even touch on residual values (the money you’ll get back from your car when you sell it), which are likely to be much better in EVs given the market for other vehicles.
Ofcourse every situation is different but it is really important to take the Total Cost of Ownership in to account.
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Written by the Z Team (01/06/19)
