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

66 points · 107 comments · xbmcuser

  1. cmiles8 · · 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 · · 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 · · 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.
        1. tonyedgecombe · · 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.
        2. consp · · 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).
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