How much does an electric car save?

The engine in electric vehicles offers many advantages over combustion engines, starting by its reduced size and weight, greater technical simplicity (fewer components and pieces) and a higher yield (they transform 75% of the energy they receive). In addition, they do not directly pollute the environment.

With all these advantages, electric cars do have a downside when it comes to the much higher price for the vehicle itself and the fuel. Nonetheless, the cost of the energy they use and the maintenance is much cheaper and have a lower ecological footprint. Is it worth buying an electric car? How much could you save a year?

The importance of batteries in electric cars

The price is not the same if you want to buy or hire the batteries to recharge the car:

A 'standard' electric car, such as the Nissan Leaf, costs around 24,000 euro and the battery hire comes in at around 80 euro per month, although this price can vary depending on the km travelled per year and the rental time period (the longer the time, the cheaper they are).

If you want to buy the care with its batteries, the price would go up around 6,000 euro meaning you need to do your sums to know which option best suits you.

There are cheaper models, such as the Renault Twizy, a smaller car designed solely for the city.

The saving in fuel and maintenance

Companies such as Nissan tell us that quite a bit of money can be saved, especially in the city. Let's do a quick sum:

An average electric vehicle uses around 15kWh/100 km, which in recharging = €1.50.

A traditionally fuelled vehicle = €8.45/100 km minimum. 

The British taxi firm 'Phoenix Taxis' has calculated a saving of around 5,900 euro per year using electricity and not diesel for its fleet.

In the US, with current prices for petrol and electricity and the usual mileage done by an American worker, a saving of nearly 9,000 dollars could be made over five years = around 6,770 euro for a new average car. This is around 112 euro per month = almost 9,400 litres of petrol = a saving of 130 barrels of oil.

In terms of maintenance, you save on oil and lubricant, there are no mechanical transmissions... An additional yearly saving.

Subsidies for electric cars

Did you know there are also subsidies and national grants? In some places in Spain (such as Madrid) it is free to park in certain areas using a special device.  

An electric car in the city could run for up to 200 kilometres on a single charge and the energy used by an electric car with similar features (Nissan Leaf vs. Nissan Qasqai) is around 3 times less.

Ah! Important point: think about the savings in CO2 emissions and particles. So with all this information, an electric or conventional combustion car?  

Sources: Motor pasión futuro, Endesa vehículos eléctricos, El País, Ahorro Acierto.