EVs are now 9 times cheaper than petrol or diesel to drive in the UK

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1429718/evs-are-now-9-times-cheaper-than-petrol-or-diesel-to-drive-in-the-uk

www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-evs-are-now-nine-times-cheaper-than-petrol-or-diesel-to-drive-in-the-uk

By “nine times cheaper,” they mean the fuel for the EV can cost as little as 1/9th as much as the fuel for a gasoline / petrol car.

That’s great, as far as it goes, but depreciation per mile is usually a bigger cost than fuel. Other costs like registration taxes, insurance, and maintenance shouldn’t be expected to follow this 1/9th pattern either, of course. You’re not going to switch to an EV and find your total expense drops to 1/9th.

It feels to me like they’re telling an incomplete story on purpose.

A large portion of depreciation and insurance is fixed, not based on actually driving. And maintenance is lower with EVs as well.

Still though, you are right, 1/9 is specific to fuel, and it’s deceiving. If it.were truly 1/9 we wouldn’t be having this conversation because all vehicles would be EVs.

Oh and don’t worry, if ICE vehicles go away, the politicians will find some way to levy an 8/9ths tax on something else to make up for not having those fuel sales.

Toll roads for everyone?

We need to figure out how to pay for road upkeep somehow.

That’s not to say the way gas taxes are allocated to road maintenance now is perfect. Far from it. But on paper (at least where I’m from) that’s how roads are maintained.