Ready to Switch to an Electric Car?

Plug-in car sales exceeded 2.27 million in 2021, showing that more and more are choosing to go electric. With the rise in petrol costs and ever-growing concerns of car emissions, how much would be making the switch to an electric vehicle save you in emissions and money?

Interested in finding out, money.co.uk considered the cost of the average petrol vehicle compared to an electric vehicle, plus the cost of travelling the average driving distance in one year. From this, they can reveal which European countries could save the most money by switching to an electric vehicle.

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The Results:

If you would like to see the full list of countries and more extensive data, including Belgium, you can do so here.

> Belgian motorists could lose €5.7K by making the switch to EVs, placing them in 22nd out of 25. 

#1 Denmark: 

Money.co.uk can reveal that buying an electric vehicle in Denmark would save you the most money. An electric car would cost €26,000less than a petrol vehicle. With savings of over 50% and Denmark aiming to have 775,000 electrified vehicles by 2030, now is the best time to go electric for the sake of both your wallet and the environment. 

#2 Norway: 

Coming in second is Norway, where buying an electric vehicle could save you €17,000 compared to a petrol vehicle. In February 2022, battery-operated vehicles held a 64% stake in the Norwegian market, revealing their popularity. Norway earns its high ranking due to the various tax incentives in place, making electric vehicles very affordable compared to those with higher emissions. 

#3 France:

Ranking third is France,where the average electric vehicle costs €9,000less than its petrol counterpart. Compared to the first two results, this is a significant drop in savings, however, this price includes France’s government grant of €1,000 towards buying an electric car.

James Andrews, a spokesperson from money.co.uk, offers guidance on choosing the perfect electric car:

1. Consider the benefits: Switching to an electric car or van means zero emissions from the vehicle, cheaper road tax as well as escaping charges for emission zones in cities. But there’s no denying the range limitations, longer charging time and generally higher purchase prices. So, make sure you should weigh up your options against petrol/hybrid vehicles to see which is most suited to your specific needs. 
2. Consider charging points: Although electric vehicles are becoming more common, access to rapid chargers is still harder than finding a petrol station. While millions will be able to charge at home or at work, if that’s not an option you need to make sure you have public points available nearby before you commit to a purchase.
3. Is an electric vehicle right for you? If you aren’t sure if you can commit to a 100% electric vehicle yet, hybrid vehicles could bridge the gap while the infrastructure and technology develop further. You don’t need to solely rely on charging points and hybrids still emit less pollution than conventional petrol cars.

Methodology:

1. Money.co.uk sought to find how much it would cost to switch from petrol to an electric vehicle (EV) in multiple European countries by comparing the first-year cost of buying and driving each car to the equivalent of a year’s worth of average travel (16,000km).
2. The costs of buying a new electric Nissan Leaf and a petrol Volkswagen Golf were compared by country, all before insurance, road tax and breakdown cover. If this specific car was unavailable in a country, a comparable one was chosen instead. The Nissan leaf was chosen as a fair and popular electric alternative with widely available information on prices for each country.
3. In some countries, the prices for buying electric vehicles privately are subsidised by Government grants, so overall prices and results have taken this into account.
4. Next, petrol prices by country per litre were extracted and were converted to euros (EUR – €). Electric prices per kWh were obtained through Eurostat data by country.
5. The miles of range added per hour of charging an EV was obtained through Podpoint, which was then converted to km.
6. Finally, the above metrics were collected into a table. Using the price of each car and the average cost to travel 100km, the cost of buying a vehicle and the average distance travelled in an electric/petrol car was then calculated at 16,000km, with each vehicle (excluding insurance and road tax). This was done by taking the cost of the car and adding the cost to travel 100km * 160. 
7. From this, the price difference between a petrol and electric vehicle was calculated, as well as a percentage change in cost (going from petrol to electric). A negative percentage represents a price decrease in cost if you switched from petrol to electric in that country, and a positive percentage represents an electric car being more expensive.
8. The percentages were then ranked to show which country could save the most proportionally.
9. Data was calculated on 8 April 2022. Google Finance is being used to convert currencies in live time, which means it’s rolling and subject to change.  

The company that conducted the research for this article was Money UK :-https://www.money.co.uk/savings-accounts.htm.