286 The How Expensive are EVs Episode

Gary Comerford (: 00:00

Hi, I'm Gary and this is EV Musings, a podcast about renewables, electric vehicles and things that are interesting to electric vehicle owners. On the show today, we'll be looking at exactly how expensive EVs actually are.

Now, our main topic of discussion today is the price of electric vehicles. A report from Ernst & Young in December last year indicated that people are moving back towards petrol from electric vehicles.

out in September and October: 2025

Meanwhile, limited range, 36%, and expensive battery replacement, 30%, were the next most prominent reasons among respondents for choosing not to go electric with their next vehicle purchase.

't have poor range. As of mid: 2025

which leaves the old bugbear of they're too expensive. So today I want to do some sums and see what sort of costs we're talking about when it comes to electric vehicles.

I'm going to start with a report produced by Electric Vehicles UK called the Cost of Driving Electric Report, CODE for short. Clever, In the introduction to that report, motoring journalist and EV reviewer Ginny Buckley said, quote, these figures expose a striking disconnect in public perception and underscore the indispensable role of the EV UK Cost of Driving Electric Report in setting the record straight.

on the true affordability of electric car ownership." quotes. The summarized data indicate that 80 % of people save by moving to an electric vehicle. The average save is £5,850 and a used EV is usually £2,781 cheaper than a used internal combustion engine vehicle. Now, before we go any further, I want to address the elephant in the room, which will be those people who are now shouting back at their device saying,

I looked and electric cars are far more expensive than petrol cars. I can't afford one. Well, that's possibly correct, but only in the context of your personal circumstances. Your individual circumstances will define what you can and cannot afford. Now I, for example, couldn't afford to take out a loan to buy a new £53,000 Polestar 2 long range dual motor. The repayments are too expensive and it's just not worth it to me.

I used to drive back in early: 2000

or a BMW 7 Series either, regardless of the powertrain. Also, if you're the sort of person who tends to buy cheap fourth or fifth hand vehicles for £1,000 and run them into the ground before scrapping them, then yes, an EV at the moment will probably be too expensive for you. But so will a large number of internal combustion engine cars. But what the Code Report has done is taken 50 new battery electric vehicles and 35 used battery electric vehicles

and looked at the cost of purchasing one of those according to various different methods. For 15 new vehicle models, it compared three ownership methods, were personal contract purchase, PCP, and leasing through salary sacrifice with both basic and higher rate tax relief. Each scenario was assessed across three different annual mileage levels and two charging approaches.

vehicle models registered in: 2022

purchasing method and timeframe. Let's dig into the data. There is a broad spread of outcomes, but consumers who charge mostly at home are far more likely to save money with an EV compared to an ICE vehicle. Only a small proportion of outcomes, fewer than 10%, result in the consumer paying more. For drivers without home charging access,

the median outcome still results in a saving of £430 a year. However, there is a 42 % chance that they'll end up paying more over the term of the car. And this is all down to the cost of public charging, which of course has nothing to do with upfront purchase price, as quoted by the Ernst & Young report. By the way, if you want to learn more about how to cut your public charging costs using subscriptions, cheap charge point operators and time of day tariffs,

There's an episode coming later this season talking all about that. In the used market, the difference is even starker. For a six year old Audi e-tron, you can save almost 12,000 pounds against the price of an equivalent Audi Q7. 12 grand. But of course, there are many factors that play into things like leasing an EV, which are not obvious and apparent at first glance. For example, with many EVs,

The monthly cost is relatively low for a new car, but the initial deposit can be quite high. And if that's the case, ask your leasing company to reduce the initial deposit down to one month and recalculate the monthly payment. The amount you'll end up paying over the length of the lease will be the same, but it will mean you don't end up shelling out a lump sum that you might not have.

Secondhand cars are where the major financial benefits come for EV buyers. The theory is that schemes such as lease schemes and salary sacrifice schemes bring new cars to market and after 24, 36 or 48 months, these go to the secondhand market with all their initial depreciation taken off. And that's how I was able to get a nicely specced Polestar 2 with the plus and pilot pack for less than the cost of a much cheaper ID.3 leased from new

Plus I have the option of paying a relatively small balloon payment for the car when the lease is up to take total ownership of

So what does the cost of driving electric report say about used car drivers? Well, let me give you a quote. Drivers with driveways. For used car owners with access to home charging, driving electric was cheaper in 90 % of scenarios. Where it was more expensive, it was in some instances of low annual mileage, fewer than 5,000 miles per year. However, even in these cases, driving electric remained cheaper for 74 % of the vehicles analyzed.

The average saving over five years for someone charging at a home was £5,317. Drivers without driveways. For consumers without access to home charging, the higher cost of public charging reduced savings. At 5,000 annual miles, over 60 % of used EVs were still more affordable over a five-year term than their ICE counterparts. However, at 10,000 annual miles, this dropped to 46%.

The cost of charging away from home is a significant challenge for all stakeholders, not least drivers." End quote. Now you may think that this report is slightly biased being created by Tanya Sinclair and the good people at Electric Vehicles UK. And that's a fair point. Although the data tell the same story regardless of who's telling it. So I checked.

ed by Anderson EV in February: 2025

and petrol powered car by assessing the latest road tax charges, average fuel, recharge costs, typical servicing costs and average insurance premiums and unveiled that combustion engine owners are spending 50 % more than EV drivers. Now let's dig a little deeper into the cost of driving electric report and look at specific information about used vehicles. Now here's a set of direct quotes from the report. Quote, two to three year old cars,

g used vehicles registered in: 2022

the most popular models from: 2017

Now again, let's look at alternate sources of information to see what they say.

A recent report from CarGurus found that, quote, used combustion engine models are on average £2,560 more expensive than equivalent electric models of the same age and mileage from the same manufacturer, a difference of 10%. In addition, CarGurus explored the typical mileage of models listed on the platform and found that, quote, on average, EVs had 18 % fewer miles, equating to 3,250 miles less.

than the comparable ice bottles further adding to their appeal." End quote. So we've seen the data. We've used multiple sources to prove this. But still, the general population think that EVs are more expensive than ice cars. And that's putting them off looking at them. So why is that? Well, good question. And the answer is, as I stated right back at the start of this episode, education. Remember the vast majority of people in the UK

and indeed worldwide, have never sat in an electric car and even fewer have actually driven one. A lot of what they hear about EVs comes from media that's also created by people who've never driven one. Specifically, they'll read headlines that are anti-EV without reading the actual article that may have more nuance and in fact be neutral or pro-EV. It's clickbait. You see it all the time on social media, for example.

put anything up that portrays EVs in a positive light, and you'll soon see a stream of comments bringing up all the old tropes and myths as mentioned right at the start. These are rehashing either facts that were accurate six or seven years ago when EVs were more expensive, or they're propagating the same talking points they see elsewhere. But as for up-to-date experience with EV prices, many people will have taken what they've heard from the media, both

mass media and social media and use that to inform their decision. I've been told that EVs are more expensive, so I'm not actually even going to look myself to see what the situation is. I'll just take it as fact that they are more expensive. So let's take a look at a couple of recent examples of good EV pricing. Ford recently released their Gen-E Puma, the electrified version of the best selling car in the UK. At launch, you could get a Gen-E on a two year lease

15,000 miles a year, free servicing and breakdown, three months deposit at 300 pounds a month, including a free wall box or 260 pound Electroverse public charging credit. Now let that sink in. A brand new EV with high annual mileage on a short-term lease for less than I was paying for my ID.3 five years ago. For context of Ford Puma ST Line X, which is the closest spec to the Gen E Puma, can be purchased from Ford on a Ford Options Finance Model

for £337 per month, but that's only 9,000 miles per year instead of £15,000, 38 months instead of 24 and a deposit of £5,000, not £900. And you've still got £12,000 to pay at the end to take ownership. Or how about a BYD Dolphin? You can get one on PCP direct from BYD themselves for £289 down and £289 per month over 49 months with 6,000 miles per annum. That's a great car for not a lot of money.

found a quote online wanting: 3000

And that's not even looking at cars which are in and of themselves quite cheap. The Leap Motor TO3 is under £15,000. The Dacia Spring is now cheaper for the current model year than it was for the previous model year. £16,000 for the short range, model £17,000 for the longer range. The Renault Twingo will be £18,000 when released later this quarter. Or the Renault 5, one of the best little cars on the market at the moment in terms of fun.

Performance, range and price £21,500 for the 40kWh model and £24,000 for the 52kWh model. For comparison, that's a car that has almost the same battery size as my last ID.3 but which is £15,000 cheaper than the VW was when new. The current ID.3 with the same battery size is almost £6,000 more expensive. Even the Hyundai Insta, a great little car that's getting rave reviews, is available on the road for under £24,000.

These are all brand new prices and a few years when these hit the second hand market, they'll be really good value. But it gets even better. Friend of the podcast, Rob Shaw, you may remember he and I did a thousand kilometer journey one day around the charging wastelands of the UK in episode 102, has recently released an excellent video showing some of the preregistered savings you can make on very low mileage EVs. Dealers are preregistering their cars.

which is a practice that's been going on for years to massage registration figures. And they sell them off with mileage is as low as 10 miles on the clock and at substantial discounts.

Rob quotes several examples, including a BYD Atto3, listed price of £38,800 with a £12,000 discount at 30 % of the price just because it's pre-registered. Now, I'm not going to say that this is an EV only thing because as I just mentioned, pre-registering cars at dealerships has been going on since figures were first compiled.

If a car is registered and has a number plate, it's counted as a sale in that month. And it goes into the SMMT statistics as a sale, regardless of whether it's actually still sitting on a dealer forecourt or not. Don't blame the player. Blame the game. So as we bring this episode to a close, let's summarize what we've learned.

Despite what the media and social media will tell you, EVs are not generally more expensive than similar in turn combustion engine cars. Research indicates that moving to an EV, especially if you've got a driveway, can save you thousands per year. Used EVs, which will form the majority of the EV market moving forward, are extremely good opportunities for bargains.

Again, buying used and having a driveway will save you money compared with an ICE car. If you don't have a driveway, the savings will depend on your annual mileage and the state of the local charging infrastructure near you. Although you can use services such as JoosUp or CoCharger to find local people with spare chargers, spare charger capacity that you can use overnight to charge your car and more on that later this season. So what do you think?

Anything surprise you or astonish you here? If you're watching this and you don't drive electric, what were your impressions? If you're on YouTube, please leave a comment and a like or even subscribe. If you're listening to the audio only version and have a reaction, email me at info at musings.com.

I hope you enjoyed listening to today's show is put together with the help of Electric Vehicles UK and their cost of driving electric report.

Gary Comerford (: 17:49

If you have any thoughts, comments, criticisms or other general messages to pass on to me, I can be reached at info at evmusings.com. On the socials I'm on bluesky at evmusings.bsky.social. I'm also on Instagram at evmusings where I post those little short videos in the odd podcast extract regularly. Why not follow me there?

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Gary Comerford (: 19:15

If you've reached this part of the podcast and are still listening, thank you very much. Why not let me know you've got to this point by messaging me at musingsv.bsky.social with the words cheap as chips. Hashtag if you know, know, nothing else.

And thanks as always to my co-founder Simon. You know, he agrees with everything I said here today. Thanks for listening. Bye bye now.