Car manufacturers are developing and designing new electric vehicles a lot lately as alternatives to the internal combustion engine are sought. Presently the electric versions of vehicles cost more than the gas equivalent, and the likes of the Nissan Leaf and other models look to be at a premium price until 2030.
Taking into account the upfront purchase price and running costs like fuel and insurance, the cost of owning one can be up to £5,000 more than conventional fueled versions. According to Guardian.co.uk these figures were discovered by a study by the Element Energy that was commissioned by the Low Carbon vehicle partnership.
Climate advisers to the British government wants to see a total of eleven million electric or hybrid vehicles on UK roads by 2030. This is to meet the country’s carbon targets, but the trouble is the authors of the study have said that even if fuel prices double from current levels the cost of electric cars will still be higher.
Currently electric cars cost consumers around £30,000, without including the British government’s grant of £5,000. This equates to about double of want the standard version would cost customers. They are cheaper to run though with a Nissan Leaf costing about 2p a mile, compared to a Ford Focus that costs around 14p.
LCVP’s managing director, Greg Archer, said electric cars costs will be helped in the next 15 to 20 years by the falling prices of batteries. He added that “After 2020 the range of new technology will be more commercially available”. Archer also said that the estimates of battery costs are based on probability, and had a small chance of electric cars being competitive as early as 2020.
Provided that the electric vehicles are powered by renewable energy they can produce lower emissions over the lifetime of the car. Besides the high initial high purchase price of electric cars, another sticking point for consumers has been the availability of charging points for them.
It’s no good having an electric car if you can’t drive a reasonable distance without worrying where you are going to charge it up. The length of time it takes to recharge the vehicle can also be a problem, but as the technology improves as well as the infrastructure electric cars will be an option to consider.
Will you ever purchase an electric car?
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