Is it worth Investing in an Electric Vehicle?
The global automotive industry is nearing a tipping point in the transition between the internal combustion engine and the battery-electric vehicle. According to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, there’s been a 50% uptick in BEV adoption over the past year.
But is now really the right time to get on board with this trend? Aren’t electric vehicles going to continue to improve in the future, rendering those of today obsolete?
Let’s take a look at a few factors to consider before you take the plunge.
Higher Insurance
Since electric vehicles are still something of an unknown quantity to insurers, you can expect to pay a slightly higher premium. This is a result of the asking price of a new electric vehicle being higher than that of an equivalently-spec petrol vehicle.
While an electric vehicle is simpler in design, and therefore more reliable, than an ICE vehicle, it does contain one very expensive component: namely, the battery. While the price of these components is coming down every year, we still have a way to go before we reach parity.
Greener
One of the major advantages of the electric vehicle is that it produces less harmful gas at the point of use. This has the advantage of lowering the amount of road tax you pay and helping you stay on the right side of present and future clean-air-zone charges.
With that said, we should consider that the electric vehicle isn’t entirely green. After all, the environmental cost of producing the lithium-ion battery is extremely high. If you’re just driving short distances every day, then you might find it difficult to justify the investment in an electric car on purely environmental grounds.
Distance Restrictions
A lithium-ion battery will provide enough charge for you to cover a finite distance – and you might find it a struggle to top up quickly along the way. This is the infamous ‘range anxiety’ that’s prevented so many from making the switch to electric.
But with battery efficiency rising and charging infrastructure spreading, it’s easy to see how this concern might evaporate in the near future.
Lower Maintenance Costs
Electric vehicles lack many of the components that make ICE vehicles so unreliable. There’s no starter motor to worry about, nor is there a gearbox.
The simplicity of the design confers a few advantages when it comes to maintenance. Since there are fewer components, there are few things that can potentially go wrong. As such, things go wrong a lot less often.
