Is it a good time to buy and electric car?
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Is it a good time to buy and electric car?
Electric vehicles (EVs) are rapidly becoming mainstream.
There are already around 50 fully electric models on sale, and more than 20 new ones are due to arrive in the next six months, along with a host of plug-in hybrid (PHEV) versions of popular cars.
Sales of fully electric vehicles hit an all-time high of 190,727 in 2021, as sales of petrol and diesel cars fell. If you add in the number of PHEVs sold last year, one in five new cars was a battery electric.
So, is now the time to trade your internal combustion-engined car for an electrified one?
Well, there are plenty of tempting EVs to choose from, whether you’re in the market for a city runabout like the Fiat 500 or a large SUV like the BMW iX3.
And even the less performance-oriented models generally have zippy performance, so they’re fun to drive.
The first thing to consider is whether you can charge a car at an affordable location, such as your home or workplace, so you can avoid the sometimes pricey public charging options and reap the potential savings of driving an EV rather than a petrol or diesel.
Don’t forget to take into account the cost of having a home charger installed if you plan to get one of those.
EVs are generally more expensive to buy and insure than their petrol and diesel-engined counterparts. The all-new electric Fiat 500 will set you back £24,435 with What Car?’s Target Price (TP) discount.
That’s almost £10,000 more than the cost of a comparable petrol-engined 500. Meanwhile, theBMW iX3 is priced from £62,245 with TP discount, whereas the conventional BMW X3 starts at just over £44,000.
Sales of EVs are predicted to increase exponentially over the next few years, and as battery technology improves, prices should start to come down.
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Insurance groups are based partly on a car’s cost, so high purchase prices, and the potentially higher cost of replacement parts, mean premiums are likely to be higher.
Servicing an EV should be cheaper than a petrol or diesel car because there are fewer mechanical parts.
EVs can wear out brakes more quickly, though, and some sit on specially designed tyres that can be pricier to replace, so you’ll need to ensure you can afford these additional expenses.
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Very interesting. I have been thinking about getting an eletric car myself.
I don’t know bout’ these eletric ones… I’m an old school gurl
My car is electric and it’s pretty great. Helps me save lots of money
You should really think through before buying a electric car
Don’t buy an eletric car
VERY COOL
Not a good time
I wish I had one.