Our car has a relatively low annual mileage. Since we are buying an electric car, I decided to do a little calculation. At 10k km a year, we'll save about €1k on fuel. We plan to keep the car for 10 years like the previous one. That's a total savings of €10k. I will save another €4k minimum on maintenance and repairs. That makes a total difference of €14 on a €24k car, and there is no way we would have gotten a comparable car with an internal combustion engine for €10k.
EVs can be economical even with low mileage. It's just about upfront capital.

#EV #emobility #ElectricVehicle

@sesivany It would be nice if comparable cars were available in the US. The lowest priced models are substantially higher prices.

@kevin I'm getting a used car, I always do. A 2-3 year old car still looks like brand new, but it's considerably cheaper. The one I'm getting was originally for €40k.

@sesivany Which EV car isn't stock full of proprietary Internet connected spyware?

@sesivany it depends a lot on the assumption repairs cost less too. Some brands are terrible and rust quickly, near monthly in repair and almost overall there is battery degradation. Some brands show write-off around the 3 year mark, especially for the battery and this is biggest cost for replacement, often more than a new car. I would not dare to get a second hand EV.

@gbraad the battery has a warranty from the car maker for 8 years or 160k which we will not likely exceed. Significant battery degradations are a thing of the past. I read a long survey between second hand car sellers. They all do battery tests and they were surprised how little the batteries were degraded. @RezzaBuh has an almost 3-year-old EV and his battery capacity is at 97%. With our car, we will do slow charging up to 80%.
No, I'm not worried.

@purpleidea the one that isn't connected to the Internet. 😉

@sesivany battery degradation is still a thing; I am not sure what brand you are considering, but here (where most EVs are made), this is a returning problem. It also depends on how the previous owner has treated the car (and dealt with charging cycle). We have seen degradation below 75% or more here for friends and family of ours, and a full replacement; BYD, Model S, Nissan.

At least if the manufacturer provides a warranty...

And just like asked; what brand?

@gbraad Audi

@sesivany for me, all savings went to more expensive tires and more expensive insurrance. But I also went a few categories up, so I'm still quite happy 😉. But other than that, I had almost zero maintenance costs. Just washer fluid, washer, winter/summer tires rotation, and cabin filter.

@sesivany In that case I would be very different in opinion. Most likely they have a buffer (and they are better at keeping a promises for battery lifespan; not hiding behind small print).

@gbraad as I said the battery of our car will have a warranty for another 6 years and 130k km. If it degrades during this time, they will replace it. If it degrades after that, we'll see. The car we're getting has almost 400km range in the city mode. Even if it degrades to 50%, it's fine for us because we rarely drive more than 30 km at once with our second car.

@sesivany
€1k on fuel at 10k km? That looks like the _total_ fuel price of my ICV.

@mormegil driving in the city is expensive. Our current car consumes over 8l of gasoline/100 km which makes a cost of 300 CZK/100 km. EVs are economical the most in the city driving, our estimated cost for an EV is 50 CZK/100 km.

@sesivany
Yeah, 10k km of city driving per year is a different level. :-) For city driving, a full hybrid might be a good choice as well.

@mormegil plug-in hybrids don't provide the reliability. They are in fact the most faulty cars according to statistics. It makes sense because they are also the most complicated ones having both technologies. Plug-in hybrid is good if you need a long range. We don't need it. We have another car for long trips outside the city.

@sesivany @gbraad If it degrades to 50%, BMC may just brick the battery.