Thread

Analysis: EVs are now nine times cheaper than petrol or diesel to drive in UK

66 points · 107 comments · xbmcuser

cmiles8 · 1790590664 · focus · HN ↗
Headline is misleading. Cheaper on per-mile operating costs but typically more expensive to purchase and insure. There’s also a nasty depreciation curve to contend with. Nobody wants a 10 year old Tesla, but a 10 year old well mentioned petrol car still has a ton of life left in it.
It still often ends up a bit cheaper across comparable vehicles but not a slam dunk and nowhere near as good as the headline suggests.
1. pwagland · 1790591162 · focus · HN ↗
  Depends on the specific car, Tesla's are notoriously expensive to insure, but I believe that the Volkswagen ID series is much more reasonable.
  1. cmiles8 · 1790591902 · focus · HN ↗
    They’re extremely expensive to repair for one, which drives up the rates since many are just written off after relatively minor accidents.
    tonyedgecombe · 1790592669 · focus · HN ↗
    The main reason is the performance. Many early EV's had blistering acceleration and this was reflected it the number of claims insurance companies were getting.
    consp · 1790593339 · focus · HN ↗
    The torque/hp figures also do not help since they are in correlation with abuse and thus higher crash rates. e.g. a Tesla just for liability is significantly more expensive due to hp, you get nothing for crashing it, same weight Model 3 vs ID.3 both 60kwh but 205 vs 150kw is 115 vs 85 euros as a first owned car for a 35 year old and it drops quickly with less power (rates also differ for where you live, don't try to insure an audi with specific trim of wheels on some cities).
  2. buggeryorkshire · 1790593682 · focus · HN ↗
    My girlfriends X4 was stolen 4 months ago. Replaced it with an Audi A6 etron. Her insurance renewal came up 30 quid cheaper at 510 last week! We were stunned.
    The EV was definitely the right choice, due to luck rather than knowing Trump was about to kick off with Iran. It costs us £8 to charge the car overnight for around 380 miles range.

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