Electric VS Petrol: Which really is Cheaper? | Fifth Gear Recharged

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[andrewsanton]

This is all very well but what about people who have no off street parking. Electric cars are not an option at the moment. My nearest public charging point is 15 miles away and there is only one charger. Meanwhile my 2010 Octavia is costing very little to run in terms of servicing and is doing 58 - 62mpg. Many of us can't afford a PCP deal of £250 plus a month.

[Wicked_Trojan]

Fuel in the US is much cheaper than Europe. The math doesn’t hold up here. And I’m guessing we drive longer distances as well. Range can be a huge factor when deciding between the two.

[BristolPeterUK]

In the summer I had to pass 3 service stations on the M1 because they were full. Even if there is a charging point at every single parking space, then every car is going to need to be park for at least 20mins to recharge, and do that two or three times between London and Newcastle - motorway service stations will need to be the size of small villages!

[bafty]

This is all prior to electricity rising by an average of 50% from April 2022, it already Increased by this much at the end of last year. Not to mention range etc. cost is important, but so is convenience.

[PhilipBallGarry]

Thanks guys, this saves me from attempting to crunch those figures myself. It's a fairly good comparison BUT it all depends on what the government intend to do with regard to new EV charging points - given that by law they must now be separately metered from your regular domestic supply. Thus, at the flick of a switch you could be paying considerably more for your recharge in order for the government to recoup the tax losses as consumption of regular fuels falls. 🤔Let's not forget, our wonderful, democratically-elected government (of any flavour) do not actually have our best interests at heart and haven't for many years 😉

[peterkirton]

The cheap electricity tariff now( in 2021) will not remain cheap once more than half of all drivers switch to electric. Governments all find ways to screw the motorist.

[flaxvert]

I take this comparison with a pinch of salt. I owned the DS3 E-Tense for a year, did 20k mikes and spent my life parked up at chargers paying minimum of 20p, and thats is the chargers were working.
As for the range in the winter you will be lucky to get 120 miles at motorway speeds.
A petrol car IS cheaper to run (diesel even cheaper) unless you can charge your EV at home.. No, the cost of electricity has shot up! And I see there was no mention of depreciation. My E-Tense cost £36k new, but was sold on for 24k 10 months later (motability).
And remember, you won't even get 120 miles range because at 100 miles you need to start looking for a charger that works.
Then you can only rapid charge to around 88% then the speed drops suddenly so it will take nearly an hour to charge the last 12%.

[charlespratt]

One battery replacement down the road will alter those numbers quite a bit. Not to mention the cost of electrical parts failing as well. If you want to try an interesting comparison calculate the actual costs over the life span of the vehicles.

[elbuho]

Glad to see you focus on home charging - which WhatCar ignored in their EV vs ICE video a few weeks ago - but most people go on longer trips now and then. Visits to family around the country, holidays abroad - you're reliant on fast chargers en route, which currently cost up to €0.89 / kwh. It might not push you over that £50 a month but it will eat into it.

[KeshigomuLife]

The cheapest energy deal I can find is £0.14/kWh in off peak period, which is
nearly 3 times higher than the one used in the calculation……and price of both electricity and petrol are going crazy now……I’m not sure which has a higher rate of increase though

[davidrosner]

Great video! Here's what gets me though. When people use the term "Cheap" when the correct term should be "Less expensive". In my warped business mind - Cheap describes quality, not quantity.

[joelhenderson]

One issue I haven’t heard discussed much is tyres. EVs weigh more; so doesn’t that mean they wear tyres in fewer miles? So doesn’t that mean their tyre cost is higher? It may not be decisive but is it material?

[jonesy-rhfk]

Also don’t forget the petrol Corsa in the test was ‘elite’ spec whereas the electric one was the ‘Sri’. A Corsa e in ‘elite’ spec costs over £31k, so the price gulf is even larger.

[autointake]

Those price comparisons were so heavily biased to the EV. You took the highest spec petrol corsa and compared it to the lowest spec ev. At the low end you can get a petrol 1 brand new for 16k. For a ev 1 with the most, but not even near the same, range you're talking 30k plus

[ezpoppy]

Here in sunny California, I enjoy driving all over in my base 2021 Model 3 SR+.

The other day, after charging overnight to 100%, I drove 286 miles. I had one 15 minute SuperCharger session (while I had a snack and a walkabout). Total cost for the energy: $13.00. Not including my snack!

In 13 months, I’ve driven ~14, 500 miles (approx 1, 100 mi/month), using ~3, 400 kWh. At home, I pay $0.092 per kWh for off peak TOU, with an EV discount. 3, 400 x $0.092 = $312.00. For 13 months and 14, 500 miles of of driving.

14, 500/28 mpg = 517 gallons of gas, and 517 x $5/gal = $2, 585.00.

[davidlewis]

Maybe I missed the car insurance cost which is always higher in an EV. Add all the costs in including costs relating to non home charging.

[ArthurDaley]

With current fuel and electricity cost your overall saving would be less than a £1000, based on current fuel 150p and electric 40p (no cheap tariffs are available). Don’t forget to budget £500 to install a charger. So for a car with half the range of a Petrol you can save £500.

[mrmawson]

The battery's depreciate after time is what you said mate ?

[NikesZ]

A lot of these cost are very local, this week here in Sweden even the pc media had to admit that an electric car cost more then the petrol version.
And you forgot to count in the loss in battery capacity when temp drop in the winter. And if you own the car for longer you might have to pay for the change of batteries and that busts the whole budget for the electric car. There is a lot more to count in but lets just say that electric will most likely cost a lot more then you think.

[zagonielod]

This is waaaay too one sided… might be cheaper, but when will you cover longer journeys with the electric Corsa, like you would with the petrol car( in case you would need to?)…