Do electric cars help us save money?

ELECTRIC CARS - Electric cars are a certainty for the future by now. Nowadays there are always more owners of this type of vehicle. Among them is me, Hamid-Reza Khoyi, and today I want to tell you about the advantages of owning this type of car, especially in monetary terms. I can tell you about it as an owner of this type of vehicle and an auditor. In this analysis both data tested by myself in Switzerland and a comparison with the Italian one are reported. Given that electric cars will be the future, my impressions on what could and hopely will be the evolution of the electric vehicles market won’t miss either.

Government incentives for the purchase of electric cars

Nowadays buying an electric car is still very expensive, perhaps too much for some. However, if you look carefully at the data, you will notice that some facilitations helping to significantly lower the cost have been granted. For instance, in my experience, I have estimated an average annual saving of 2.500 francs using an electric car. On the contrary, in Italy the estimated saving is around 1.300 euros. In this way, in 10 years it would be possible to amortize the initial expenditure. But if you consider the facilitations granted by the institutions this timing can be halved.

In the Canton of Ticino the State offers 4.000 francs for the purchase of the car, and 500 for the installation of the charging station at home or in the office. The Italian State has made available the ecobonus, thanks to which contributions up to 8.000euros are expected (in case of scrapping).

The electric car insurance is different

In addition to government incentives, other factors play a role in saving money. Before we speak of consumption, it is appropriate to look at other data. For instance, in Italy the insurance of an electric vehicle is more advantageous than the one for traditional cars. In fact, there is a saving of approximately 150 euros per year. However, in Switzerland this does not occur, and there are no differences between the two of them. In other countries, such as Norway or the United Kingdom, insurances for electric cars are more expensive than the traditional ones. This is due to the higher power that these vehicles have.

Not only government incentives, but also saving on road tax and car servicing

Other taxes on vehicles, such as road tax and car servicing, are a different story. In Switzerland, in the Canton of Ticino, road tax saves 800 francs a year. In Italy it is even free of charge for the first 5 years, whilst for the following a discount of 75% is applied.

Saving is also related to car servicing, since electric cars require extremely lower maintenance. To give an example, there is no need for oil change, and brakes’ consumption is reduced thanks to the energy recovery that occurs during decelerations.

To describe electric cars’ advantages it would be sufficient to only speak of costs of consumption

Substantial differences come up with regard to costs of consumption. As far as I’m concerned, with an average of 12.000 km a year, I get to save 1.500 francs in the cost of consumption. According to italian prices, travelling 100 km means spending 2,58 euros to charge an electric car against 9,6 to get gas. This leads to saving 772,2 euros each year. The cost of charging an electric car also depends on its use. For instance, if you travel long distances and you are forced to make use of public energy, the cost will be higher. On the contrary, if you manage to always charge your car at home, where energy cost is lower, prices are further reduced.

A growing market that still does not meet some needs

These data are crucial and have to be carefully evaluated when we consider buying an electric vehicle. In addition to this, the market is turning to an increase in production volume which will lead to a decrease in costs over the years. Obviously, only in some countries, such as the United States, Europe, China and Japan, there are people who can afford buying electric cars. It is crucial to highlight that it concerns people who mainly use them in cities, or at least travel short distances. Those who need to travel long distances instead, prefer hybrid cars.

Electric cars in the future of several companies

However, Europe and other countries are pushing car manufacturers hard to find improvements in the field of electricity. The first way they implement is to impose huge fines on those who do not comply with the limits on CO. For this reason Tesla has drawn up a partnership with Fiat, with which it has sold to the Italian company the certificates on the issue of CO to reduce the penalty on polluting cars.

Partnerships like this one will be crucial for the future of the electric field. However, the agreements between big computer science companies and electric energy producers could be essential as well. These partnerships could only lead to advantages, both to producers and customers.The electric car model also arrives at Ferrari, to learn more