In the last three years, more and more car manufacturers have introduced pure electric models, complementing the range with already existing hybrids. In fact, in 2020, the rate of presentation of electric cars is constantly increasing, now having models that cover all categories, from super mini city cars to SUVs and executive limousines.

At the same time, a number of tax incentives have recently been announced that bring down the retail price of hybrid and pure electric cars to levels that are no longer prohibitive, especially when taking into account depreciation due to economy of use.

The question easily arises as to whether it is worth switching to an electric car, purely on economic and technical criteria alone.

The positive points, exclusively for invoices, are the following:

- The cost of use is much lower, with the difference increasing as the kilometers traveled increase, especially in an urban environment.

- Maintenance costs after the purchase are correspondingly very small, practically limited to tires and pads. No maintenance needs for engine and gearbox. There is no oil, oil filter or spark plug that needs changing. Moreover, something that does not exist is impossible to spoil 😊

But not everything is pleasant, as the potential owner of an electric car has to deal with a number of issues, such as:

- The greatly increased purchase price, with a huge difference especially in the small models.

- The low resale price, at least if we judge from the existing hybrids of the last decade in Greece (e.g. Prius, Lexus hybrid, etc.) and from the purely electric ones in foreign marketplaces (e.g. mobile.de)

- The increased cost of changing batteries, out of warranty. We remind you that based on the condition of the batteries, the respective mileage is also determined, and therefore the usability of the car.

- The uncertain charging cost that fluctuates. It is not certain that the price of Kilowatt will remain at the current levels, it is likely that it will increase sooner or later, with fluctuations much greater than those of liquid fuels.

Note also that everything mentioned is the tip of the iceberg, without considering additional costs of upgrading the electrical installation at home, increased charging costs outside the home (e.g. at charging stations) or possible "childhood diseases" of this new technology.

We come to the conclusion that the decision is not so simple in the end, but it mainly depends on the annual kilometers the car has to travel, especially urban ones. In any case, "paper and pencil" (or Excel 🙂 ) is needed to make a first rough check of the depreciation that will have the additional cost based on today's prices and today's travel needs.

It would be good to avoid situations that often happened in the recent past, such as the purchase of diesel models for "economy" that cost a few thousand euros more than the corresponding gasoline cars and were bought to travel up to five thousand kilometers a year...