Electric vehicles have many perks, but they are not in general circulation as of yet. If you are considering making a change from diesel or petrol to electric car ownership, there are a few things that you should know about first. This post talks through the key points for electric car purchases and all the necessary information to know before committing.
What Are the Options for Purchasing?
As with any car, you are not limited to just one method of purchase. There are options to spread costs, pay the total upfront and even trade-in potentials from certain garages. Let’s take a look in a bit more detail.
Buy Outright
Buying outright means putting the whole cost forward in order to secure the vehicle. This method is not universally accessible as it requires a large chunk of savings to actually buy a car. These vehicles, just like petrol and diesel, are not cheap by any means. The price tag can be anything upwards of £12,000 as a bare minimum. However, if you prefer this option, you can make it a long term saving goal and open a dedicated savings account to keep you motivated. It might take a bit longer, but you would be the owner outright with no other demands on your cash.
Lease a Vehicle
When you lease a vehicle, you enter into an agreement with a lender. With electric car leasing, you agree to pay a deposit, which can be any amount you choose. The bigger the deposit, the less you will have to pay month by month. The next part is a division of the remaining cost of the car which is split into monthly payments over a number of years, normally capped at five years in total. It is up to your individual preference and circumstance as to what the final terms look like on paper. For example, if a vehicle costs £20,000 and you have a £5,000 deposit, there will be £15,000 left to account for. You can spread this over one year, or several years.
As a general rule, the longer the lease term, the more you will have to pay in interest to the lender. Some people find this pointless as you are paying money to spend money and you don’t own the car until you have completed the agreement. However, for those people who do not have a large enough sum upfront, it actually makes vehicle ownership highly accessible. You will have to prove that you are in stable employment with a salary that can cover the cost while also supporting your basic life costs as well (rent, food etc.). You will also have to have a decent credit history (no major debt history etc.).
How Much You Will Realistically Spend in Total
Moving on from the cost of purchase, there are more assets to acquire alongside the vehicle itself. These are a charging cable and a charging setup. There are also insurance and general car maintenance costs to consider alongside the electricity costs of charging up the vehicle. Some of these are similar style expenses to petrol or diesel vehicles, but some are not. It is worth keeping in mind that the current cost of charging an electric vehicle compared to filling up a tank of fuel is noticeably less. But the price of a decent setup with everything you need can be around £500, so this is something extra to factor in. For a comprehensive breakdown of these cost commitments, you can check out ElectriX. This site contains everything and anything you could ever need to know around electric vehicles. There are detailed guides and the answers to questions you might not have even thought of.
The Perks
Onto the best bit – the perks of owning an EV!
The Environmental Factors
These types of motor do not have exhaust pipes, therefore there are no harmful emissions finding their way into the atmosphere. You can even take this a step further by making your charging methods more environmentally friendly and using methods like solar panels to give the car a full charge.
No Road Tax
It is expensive enough to run a car, but there is one less cost associated with EV ownership. You don’t have to pay road tax because the car does not throw harmful things into the world, therefore there is little to no pollution.
The only thing left to consider is how ready you really are. Do you have the space to charge your vehicle, and is that space secure enough? A big barrier to ownership is a lack of space to put the vehicle, which often will need to charge overnight or for an extended period. Do your research and choose the path that suits you best.
