Electric Cars are Now Cheaper to Own and Run

Cars that use fossil fuels represent the vast majority of the vehicles used worldwide. However, they face competition from the growing global interest in electric vehicles. Perhaps the reason that electric vehicles have not already overtaken traditional vehicles worldwide is economic. Electric vehicles are often more expensive to purchase, and not necessarily cheaper to run. New research may lead to this situation changing. Evidence suggests that electric cars have become cheaper to own and run than petrol and diesel.

Changing Averages

When one combines the purchase cost, the fuel and the tax costs of the most popular car in Europe, the electric version proved to be the cheapest. A comparison of Vollkswagen Golf models – Petrol, Diesel, Electric and Hybrid showed that the electric battery powered version worked out cheapest over all.

Reasons for Savings

This is due to a variety of factors. The amount that electric vehicles saved depended on the country that one made the purchase in. Many of the savings that electric vehicles offer are through tax breaks that many nations provide. In Norway, the average savings are significantly higher. This is because Norway offers greater tax incentives to switch to electric.

National Differences

In the UK, it has proven cheaper to own and run an electric car – but not to the same extent as in other countries. While in Norway it is on average 27% cheaper to own an electric, this figure is only 5% in the UK. As a result, there are now calls for this country to extend similar advantages to electric vehicles as others in Europe have.

Electric car sales rose by 21% in the UK last year, and diesel sales dropped by a larger amount. Despite this, more must be done to encourage greater uptake of electric vehicles. With climate change and air pollution worsening as issues in the 21^st century, governments have the power to encourage their citizens to lessen the impact of petrol and diesel cars on them.

GAP Insurance protects the long term value of your car if it is stolen or written off. If you buy an expensive electric car, you want to make sure that it stays safe and protected. If something unfortunate does happen to your car, you could lose out significantly on its value. GAP Insurance covers the gap between what you lose from your car’s value, and what you paid for it.