Operating Costs of Electric Vehicles Are Higher Than Those of Gas Cars - BBC
By Scott Doggett August 30, 2010
An electric-vehicle owner who thinks he's saving money relative to owning a gasoline-powered car because of lower refueling and maintenance costs will be in for a rude awakening when he tries to sell the vehicle.
That's according to a report by the BBC, which said that, at least in the U.K., an EV is about 13 percent more expensive to operate than a similar gas-powered car during the first three years of ownership.
Owners of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric-car (pictured), which debuts in the U.K. early next year, will pay about 10,600 British pounds ($16,391) operating a vehicle that's driven a combined 36,000 miles over the first three years, compared to 9,339 British pounds ($11,834) for owners of a gas-powered Fiat 500 Lounge. And this factors in the 5,000-pound ($6,335) tax credit British EV owners will be getting, according to the BBC.
Additionally, it's worth pointing out that the BBC received such numbers not from a competing car company with no EV plans, but from Mitsubishi itself.
Granted, the higher cost is directly attributed to depreciation of the i-MiEV, whose 28,990-pound ($36,731) sticker price is almost three times that of the Fiat. With both cars losing about half their respective values over the first three years, the i-MiEV's depreciation costs more than offset the 2,848 British pounds ($3,609) in refueling costs the Mitsubishi owners will save over the three years.
Also, Mitsubishi comes out ahead when London's congestion charge is factored in. That could add another 5,100 pounds ($6,461) of expenses to drivers of gas-powered vehicles that wouldn't apply to EV owners.
Still, the higher initial costs and the fact that battery life, which automakers such as Mitsubishi and Nissan say could be as long as 100,000 miles, is unproven and may hinder EV resale values.
Mitsubishi and Nissan will debut the i-MiEV and larger Leaf EVs in the U.K. early next year. Nissan has received interest from about 12,000 people for the Leaf, which is priced at 23,990 pounds ($30,394), or 17 percent less than the i-MiEV.
Danny King, Contributor
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Simple journalistic trick.
The BBC writer skewed the results by calculating depreciation on the full sales price of the MiEV before and not after subtracting the £5k incentive.
If the incentive is subtracted from the purchase price before calculating depreciation (as any reasonable person would) then the BBC writer wouldn't have anything to write about because the cost of owning the MiEV over 3 years then becomes £1,557 or 16% CHEAPER than the Fiat 500.
Fully explained: http://electric-vehicles-cars-bikes.blogspot.com/2010/08/bbc-say-evs-more-expensive-to-own-than.html
Yeah also why are we comparing this to a fiat 500 anyways not really apples to apples.
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