EV versus ICE running costs
I hear you Alex, it seems counter intuitive to pay more for your electricity and gas than is strictly necessary. However, I can't help wondering why people who are price sensitive to their energy costs would own an electric vehicle. The cost of the batteries place such a premium on the cost of an EV that for all but the commuter and taxi driver, the economics don't make sense.
I'm almost certainly going to lease a Kia Soul EV for a couple of years. It's a slightly bonkers thing to do because the petrol and diesel versions are so much cheaper. Literally by thousands of pounds.
The average mileage per driver is just under 8,000 a year in the UK. It's easy to buy a car that does 50mpg on either petrol or diesel. If you're paying £1.15 per litre, you're only paying around £820/yr for fuel.
If memory serves, Ecotricity charge me 13.6p per kWh. Is it fair to say that a Leaf or Soul will go 60 miles on 20kWh of electricity? That's only £363 of electricity at Ecotricity prices. The average household consumed 4kWh per day last year. That's £199, if we ignore standing charges. So assuming you charge your car exclusively at home, your total electricity bill is £562/yr. At the very most you'll save £280 a year going with an energy company that burns whatever it can to make electricity. Is it worth it?
Let's halve the £363 spent on electricity for driving to £182. Compared to diesel you'd be saving £638/yr on fuel. The electric Soul EV costs £25,500 new versus a petrol with a DCT automatic costing £18,500. It'll take ten years to break even! Maybe less taking servicing into account, but still, who will want a Leaf or Soul in three years time when the Tesla Model 3 is available with a 200 mile range? Not to mention all the competition from the big car manufacturers that are pulling out all the stops at the moment so they don't get left behind.
So there must be another reason to own an electric car at the moment. I think the pleasure of driving one is a good place to start. I would also like to think that owning one now will encourage more people to make the leap. Financially you're setting yourself up for more expense. The depreciation alone will blow the above calculations out of the water. That's why I think leasing is sensible at the moment, or buying a three year old Leaf for £7,000.
It seems odd to me to go and spend all that extra money to run an electric vehicle for environmental reasons and then not be willing to spend just a little bit more on your electricity to ensure that it comes from sustainable sources. Hypocritical even!
Please note that I've used very conservative estimates. I don't know your circumstances Alex and that last comment isn't aimed at you specifically.
