Electric Cars Remain A Luxury Purchase

By Paul Homewood

Projections by the Committee on Climate Change consistently assume that electric cars will soon be cheaper to buy than conventional models.

Analysis that I did six years ago showed that the mid-range Nissan Leaf, the most popular EV, cost about £10,000 more than its petrol equivalent, the Ford Focus. Fast forward to today, and little seems to have changed.

Excluding the £2500 government subsidy, the Leaf’s RRP is £32945, compared to the Focus which is £23755:

https://www.nissan.co.uk/vehicles/new-vehicles/leaf/configurator.html#configure/BAVh/AsKHfEFGI/wheels

https://www.ford.co.uk/cars/focus/models-specs/zetec#overlay/content/overlays/download-a-brochure/new-focus

Economies of scale may bring down the cost of EV’s, although higher raw material costs would offset this. It also seems likely that Nissan are selling at ultra low prices currently in order to gain market share.

Manufacturers will also have to set prices high enough in future to recoup that billions invested in new production lines for electric models.

There is also the question of depreciation costs. Parkers suggest a second hand value of around £7000 for a three year old Leaf, which would have cost about £30,000 new, which seems very poor value for money. The Focus petrol model has a similar second hand value, but of course cost much less new, about £20,000:

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April 22, 2021 at 09:21AM