What Are The Costs Of Owning An Electric Car?
As the cost of just about everything is going up, it makes sense that people are seeking a lot of ways to save money. Transportation costs are sometimes second only to housing in terms of the percentage of income it takes to pay for it. This is the reason a lot of people are looking into electric cars. Since they cost a fraction of what a conventional car takes to fuel itself, it seems like a good way to save money.
To understand if you will actually save money you have to understand the costs involved in owning an electric vehicle. In this article, we will go over several of the costs many people are not familiar with.
Insurance is higher
One thing that many people don’t realize is that car insurance is more expensive for an electric car than for a conventional one. You can certainly look at some Progressive insurance reviews and shop around to find the lowest quotes, but chances are good that you will pay a higher premium than you were paying for your old car.
The reason is that even a minor fender bender can cost an insurance company a lot more money than a traditional accident. The batteries are very sensitive in an electric car and even the slightest damage makes them inoperable. This is opposed to a traditional motor that can be fixed by changing damaged parts.
Since insurance is also tied to the value of the car, it is higher because the value of an electric car doesn’t depreciate as much as a traditional combustion engine car.
You have to install a charger
Some electric cars can be plugged into the outlets you have now for big appliances. However, these are incredibly inefficient and it is likely that future cars won’t be able to use them. It can take over ten hours to charge a car with this method.
Most people getting an electric car will need to install a car charging station in their garage. The price varies a lot especially depending on what the labor rates are in your area.
However, with an average of $40 per hour for labor and the cost of the hardware, you can expect to pay around $1,200 up to $2,000 to install one.
Maintenance is much less
There is no motor in an electric car so there is no friction from moving parts. This means that maintenance and repairs are much less expensive. The ongoing maintenance doesn’t require any tune-ups or oil changes so you will save money in this regard.
You will still need to replace the brakes on occasion but even that aspect is far less expensive as they are not prone to wearing out as fast as conventional.
There are tax credits
Since electric cars can lower the burden of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as well as not draining fossil fuel reserves, the government is actively providing subsidies to make it attractive to buy one.
The costs can be reduced by thousands of dollars by taking advantage of these credits. However, at the end of five years, adding up the costs from purchasing to everything else, it generally is going to cost more for an electric car.
