Owning an EV is $600 more expensive every year than having a combustion-engined car. This is what the American Automobile Association found out with a recent survey. It just failed to mention in its press release what makes the EV experience more costly than that of regular vehicles. If it’s any comfort, the study indicates people are cured of range anxiety when they actually own an electric car.
We have got in touch with AAA to discover why EVs charge more per year but got no reply so far. The association performs this study taking into consideration six factors: financing, depreciation, insurance, registration and associated expenses, maintenance, and fuel/charge costs. Yet, AAA only says that EVs charge less on these two last sorts of charges.
The study measured how much a driver will spend on driving for five years and 75,000 mi. That said, the extra cost of an electric vehicle amounts to $3,000 in the period, which is quite a lot. Apparently, you get no relief from the lower expenses for charging ($709 less) or maintenance ($330 less).
What would be the reason for that? Higher insurance rates? Pricier cars? A steeper depreciation? All these factors together? We have no idea. When AAA tells us what is the reason for that, we’ll update this article.
Apart from that, the association made more rewarding discoveries for EV adopters. The main one was that we mentioned at the beginning of this text: the ones that buy an electric car lose the fear of getting stranded without juice in the middle of nowhere.
AAA says that 77 percent of them are no longer concerned with range; 95 percent never ran out of charge. On average, 75 percent of their charging needs are solved at home. That leads to a rate of 96 percent of EV owners that would certainly buy or lease another electric car when the time comes.
Will EVs one day be cheaper to own and to drive than a combustion-engined vehicle? When that happens, electric car adoption will certainly get a boost: nothing speaks louder to consumers than saving money.