EVs - have the financial savings evaporated already?

[LimaDelta]

I'm not in any way anti-BEV, we just don't happen to have one anymore. We did have an i3 for three years, and it was great at the time, and made even better for the fact it felt so cheap to own and run it was free. Since then though, EV purchase prices seem to be ever increasing, with the manufacturer effectively factoring into the purchase price any fuel savings from which you may benefit. Insurance costs for BEVs are rocketing, and they are now doing away with the zero RFL rate. How long before they also become liable for congestion zone charging too?

In real terms, for the average (non-company/non-BIK) driver, is a BEV actually any cheaper to run than a similarly sized ICE anymore? Is this becoming Dieselgate part 2?

[LimaDelta]

georgeyboy12345 said:

Dieselgate was about a company intentionally cheating on a legally mandated emissions test. This is not, so no.

I used the term (perhaps incorrectly) to describe the government push to encourage people to swap small petrol cars for small diesel cars which were unsuitable for short journeys, rather than the emissions/consumption cheating by various manufacturers.

[LimaDelta]

740EVTORQUES said:

(Note I haven’t mentioned saving polar bears once?)

Quite rightly so.

For us, the i3 was a purely financial decision. The 60 mile per day school run was costing around £400 per month in diesel in the OHs Shogun, and once we made the swap, it was costing around £50 per month in electricity, the remaining £350 or so paid for the car, hence my OP comment about it being 'free'. I think as BEV adoption becomes more widespread, the manufacturers will continue to ratchet up prices, and any savings in fuel will be eaten up by the increased purchase price. By then of course, there will be no ICE option to fall back on, and BEV will be the norm.

[LimaDelta]

Nomme de Plum said:

How can they ratchet up prices with cheap Chinese imports? Motor manufacturing is a competitive business like any other. Economies of scale will assist in keeping prices lower than they would otherwise be.

It is certainly the cheapest motoring I've done in a quite a long time. I don't buy new and pay cash so no financing costs.

Maybe the Chinese will take up the lower end of the market, but with no service or support here, insurance costs are going to be higher than for an established manufacturer with a strong European presence surely? IDK, hence the thread.

[LimaDelta]

740EVTORQUES said:

This is the kind of head-in-sand wishful thinking

Nothing 'wishful' about it. I have no skin in the game. It's just idle curiosity, that's all.