General Hybrid vs. Electric - costs and benefits of electric cars vs. conventional vehicles?

[Mads Gorm]

Hi

I am looking to buy a Fiat 500 and I am looking at Hybrid vs. Electric. What do you think will be the cheapest - in cost of ownership.

I drive 25.000 km. a year, and live en Denmark. Will I make back the extra investment in buying the electric car - and how low will I need to drive it to make back the investment. Is it too soon to go electric - should I Waite and do it with my next car?

 

[chris3234]

Electric will definitely be cheeper in running costs how've it will be more to buy/finance you have to look at both of them and the sort of millage you will be doing

 

[Mads Gorm]

Electric will definitely be cheeper in running costs how've it will be more to buy/finance you have to look at both of them and the sort of millage you will be doing

It's more expensive to buy, but lower fuel costs, and some seem to think lower maintenance cost. So if it's cheaper - is it then by much?

The danish car magazine FDM set it at 0,47 euro pr. km for petrol, and electric, and 0,39 euro pr. km for electric. Calculated for 100.000 km. and five years. So you save 7.800 euro in five years on 100.000 km. Or a 130 euro a moth.

Do you think nose numbers look about right?

 

[jrkitching]

There's no 'one size fits all' answer to this.

It depends on so many variables; how much mileage you'll be doing, how long you plan to keep it, the relative costs of fossil fuel vs electricity, the list likely goes on a long way.

In the real world, I'll put money on it being down to the fiscal incentives to buying/running electric vs the fiscal penalties applied to fossil fuel cars, and that will depend both on where you live and where you drive to.

 

[Gina500]

If you drive long distances often, go to hybrid. For a daily commute and you can charge at home, go electric.
Tax incentives are probably similar (in Germany at least), even if it is stupid. A hybrid is a combustion engine with an electric cover up. Greenwashing at its best.

 

[Mads Gorm]

Let's say the Hybrid will do 22 km pr. liter of petrol, and I do 2000 km a month - 1,85 uro pr. liter, that's about 170 euro a moth for petrol. Then I think that the price for electricity will be about half that - so 85 euro.

Now the electric is 13.500 euro more expensive to buy than the Hybrid, and I save 85 euro a month on petrol. So it will take me 13 years to make up the difference in price.

Please to challenge the numbers - I am probably wide off So were are my numbers wrong, and how long will it take to save the 13.500 euro.

 

[A3jeroen]

Don't know if you are old enough to remember, but I still compare it to the VHS, V2000, Betamax choice we had to make back in the eighties.
If you had made the choice too soon you might get stuck with a system that, although maybe better in quality, wasn't the standard.
I pushed my decission a few years forward.

gr J

 

[Mads Gorm]

Don't know if you are old enough to remember, but I still compare it to the VHS, V2000, Betamax choice we had to make back in the eighties.
If you had made the choice too soon you might get stuck with a system that, although maybe better in quality, wasn't the standard.
I pushed my decission a few years forward.

gr J

Are you thinking about the system for charging - the different types of plugs? I think I would more or less always chart at home, so I not to concerned about the different type of plugs.

 

[jrkitching]

Let's say the Hybrid will do 22 km pr. liter of petrol, and I do 2000 km a month - 1,85 uro pr. liter, that's about 170 euro a moth for petrol. Then I think that the price for electricity will be about half that - so 85 euro.

Now the electric is 13.500 euro more expensive to buy than the Hybrid, and I save 85 euro a month on petrol. So it will take me 13 years to make up the difference in price.

Please to challenge the numbers - I am probably wide off So were are my numbers wrong, and how long will it take to save the 13.500 euro.

It's more complicated than just today's difference in the cost of fuel. So much depends on what the relative costs will be over the life of the car, and it's just not possible to predict those with any kind of accuracy, since many of them are down to central and local government policy.

All that said, unless there's some kind of additional incentive to go electric where you live, then at today's prices, I think a 500 electric is going to cost you more to own than a 500 petrol. The difference gets smaller each year, but it's not there yet without some additional incentives and/or penalties.

OTOH, suppose the petrol cost you a 15 euro congestion charge five days a week to drive to work, plus ten euros a day to park, plus 300 euro pa in road tax, and you got free charging at work and all taxes, parking and congestion charges waived for the electric, then the economics start to make more sense.

 

[A3jeroen]

Are you thinking about the system for charging - the different types of plugs? I think I would more or less always chart at home, so I not to concerned about the different type of plugs.

No just the choice between petrol, (or even diesel) hybrid, electric or even synthetic (sun to liquid maybe) fuel. I think it's just a bit too early for private buyers to make a definite choice.

gr J

 

[TrevC]

Choice is made even more complicated if you consider performance. The 500e is much closer to Abarth performance than it is to the mild hybrid 500, if that matters to you. If you want an automatic, the ev should be a much better solution than the troublesome Duologic, assuming it's still available.

 

[Mads Gorm]

To me the decision ended up at whole lot more irrational - I did not like the design of the 500e. So I have bought a 500C Hybrid.

Thanks for to all for chiming in - and I am still interested in further opinions - I guess I will have to buy a 500e next time.

 

[Ralf S.]

I'd go for the hybrid. Electric is still a technology that is changing quickly and might even bomb when demand outstrips capacity for charging etc. and people get fed up with having to plug it in every 20 kms.

Petrol will become cheaper if more people shift to electric .. whereas electricity will become more expensive, so today's cost figures will change.

Also, fixing the benzina engine will be easier and cheaper than replacing the flux core when that gets burnt out. I think car makers won't simplify the tech' to "washing machine" level for a very long time.

You can always buy electric in 5-10 years time.

Ralf S.