Are EVs the solution to the petrol crisis?

Will buying an EV help you keep costs down? We take a closer look.

Driving into the future

Electric vehicles’ time in the sun has come. With households gripped by crippling fuel costs, why not just skip straight to the chase and go all-in on a much more affordable EV? After all, it’ll save you money, right?

Well, that depends on how you count the costs. We all know EVs are still in their infancy, and we won’t have better oversight of the financial viability of these cars until a little further down the road. But once you start factoring in the high premiums you need to buy an electric model, insurance, and the leveling off of value after a few years – maybe it’s not always greener on the other side.

Getting back what you put in

The elephant in the room is, as predicted, the outright purchasing costs. EVs are not cheap, and they’re not measurably more cost-effective than owning a hybrid. And they won’t get any cheaper the more you use them.

Battery replacements, higher insurance premiums, and the general deterioration of the value of your EV mean that you’ll be forking out a hell of a lot for one of these vehicles in the first place. With it needing a bit of maintenance over its life, the costs are likely to keep racking up.

Let’s be honest, you don’t need to be a Musk-level genius to work out that EVs are the future. But before we all take that big leap forward, we might need time to consider the costs hidden under the bonnet.