A £442 Yearly Fuel Cost Reduction & Other Significant Cost Savings For EV Drivers

A £442 Yearly Fuel Cost Reduction & Other Significant Cost Savings For EV Drivers

Contributing to a greener world is an obvious objective for those choosing to convert to electric vehicles. However running costs are now also a key driver alongside the expansion of vehicle ranges and improvements in government incentives. There are fantastic resources available to identify exact running cost savings when choosing specific makes and model of EV and comparing with petrol or diesel equivalents.

Here we will use the GoUltraLow website to examine a set of exact savings. For context, 57% of Britons commute to work by car making it the most popular mode of transport. By the time recreational trips are added to commute, the average mileage per household in Britain arrives at around 7600 miles driven per year.

Using the GUL website, a user can calculate what the fuel cost saving would be comparing two models of vehicle. Taking the Hyundai Kona Electric vs Petrol version, we can see that the average fuel cost per household for the petrol version would be £730 as opposed to just £288 for the electric version, a saving of £442 per year.

When it comes to car tax or vehicle excise duty, the petrol version attracts a cost of £475 over three years whereas the electric version is exempt from this tax.

Other Savings Incentives
A lesser referenced fact is that EVs are cheaper to maintain - with an average cost of £350 per year in servicing, breakdown and repairs (UK), this can be a significant saving. Electric cars are designed to be as efficient as possible with three main components in the vehicle - an on-board charger, inverter and motor. This results in reduced wear and tear and stress on the motor, with fewer moving parts at risk of damage, cutting down service intervals and the need to undergo repairs.

For business vehicles, the savings become even more pronounced as the UK government has removed Company Car Tax on fully electric vehicles for 2020/21, with low rates for subsequent years. Benefit In Kind has been dramatically reformatted to link to CO2 emissions, meaning that an employee will pay no BIK on a fully electric car in 2020/2021 with low rates for subsequent years. Employees installing at-home chargers will attract no BIK to that purchase either.

By the time a driver works out purchase and charger grants, in addition to the running cost savings referenced here, it is becoming easier to justify the switch to EV on all fronts.


Sources
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/823068/national-travel-survey-2018.pdf

https://www.goultralow.com/journey-cost-savings-calculator/

https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/Media/Press-Releases/2019-press-releases/lloyds-bank/british-workers-spend-492-days-of-their-lives-travelling-into-work/

https://www.thecarexpert.co.uk/average-car-costs-more-than-160-per-month-to-run

https://www.goultralow.com/fleets-and-businesses/tax-benefits/

 

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