NOT so long ago, the choice when buying a car was much simpler.
If you didn’t do many miles and drove mostly in town you had a petrol, while if you were up and down the motorway a lot a diesel worked out better.
Now there are still petrol and diesel cars, but also mild hybrids, full hybrids, plug-in hybrids, range extenders, hydrogen cars and, of course, full-electric models.
As we transition towards no new cars being petrol or diesel by 2030 in the UK, lots of people are wondering what the best move is right now.
Should I buy one more combustion-engine car, or should I take the plunge and go for an EV?
Given diesel has been given the cold shoulder, petrol is the most likely choice if you’re sticking with combustion.
But is an electric car cheaper to run than a petrol one?
Sadly, there isn’t an easy answer, because there are so many variables when it comes to buying and running a car. But there are things to consider.
At the time of writing, new EVs continue to be more expensive to buy privately than a new petrol on average, no matter if you buy with cash or finance.
Buying used could narrow the gap though, as some older EVs have depreciated to more accessible levels.
However, when it comes to running either car day-to-day, the EV is still usually the cheaper option.
SUN readers can win a Lamborghini Huracan plus £5,000 in cash for just 89p!
We have teamed up with 7days Performance to offer you a special discounted chance to win the amazing car this week.
Using the code SUN10, you will get 10p off the normal price of 99p.
Full terms and conditions can be found here
Commercial content notice: Taking one of the offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. 18+. T&Cs apply. Begambleaware.org
That’s because to fill the average petrol car such as a VW Golf at current prices, it’ll cost around £80-90 depending on where you buy your petrol.
The EV equivalent is the VW ID.3. The largest battery it comes with is 77kWh and the current average kWh price for electricity at home is around 28p. A full charge, therefore, costs around £22.
For your £80-90 of petrol you can expect around 400 miles of driving. For your £22 of electricity, you can expect at best 300 miles of range.
Nevertheless, per mile, the EV is much cheaper to run and it works out this way when comparing most petrols and EVs like-for-like.
Check out all of our latest electric car news here
The EV is also free to tax as things stand and is exempt from things like city Ultra Low Emissions Zones.
But, this is all based on charging your EV at home, which not everybody can do. Relying on public chargers can sometimes work out much more expensive.
EVs are also working out slightly more expensive to insure across the board and are no cheaper to service.
Once again, good petrol cars are readily available at much lower prices, so the total cost of ownership might end up working in the petrol car’s favour even with the much higher fuel cost taken into consideration.
All the above is true if you are buying the car privately, but if you are choosing a company car, the EV wins hands-down every time.
READ MORE ON EVS
Currently, EVs attract a 2% Benefit In Kind rate, which means the VW ID.3 mentioned earlier will cost you around £14 each month in BIK payments to have as a company car for a 20% taxpayer.
The equivalent petrol, manual VW Golf mentioned costs around £117 each month for the same person, despite it being a very modern, clean petrol engine.
Again, compare any EV and petrol car like-for-like and the EV will always be the cheaper company car.
So, if you’re running your car through work and you have good access to charging, an EV is the best choice.
But if you’re buying privately, there are many things to calculate and consider before you commit either way.
