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Okay, for even a very basic EV I'd be paying £400 per month.

This is more than the £200-300 or so it costs to run my existing car.

Straight off, it's costing me more just to even own one - that's before it turns a wheel.

Tax on an EV is free just now, and about £300ish a year for the vehicle I have now, so that's got the difference down a little.

Insurance on even a fairly basic EV would be a couple of hundred quid a month, as opposed to a couple of hundred quid a year. This immediately makes running an EV uneconomic.

At the end of the five year lease (you can't buy them outright, without getting entirely ripped off) I'd have spent 24 grand to still not actually own a car. This is roughly 100 times as much as I spent to actually own a car. This too makes things uneconomic.

 help



Thank you, this makes sense out of the gate, and I appreciate you sharing!

I'm not seeing you calculate any repair costs for your vehicle. Or depreciation overall, especially not replacement. What year do you expect to replace your vehicle? What would you replace it with? How much would you get for trading in your vehicle if you buy a new car now?

I think you're missing pretty large parts of the math - what happens if you take your likely depreciation/replacement costs into account over time?


Repair costs are pretty minimal. I just spent £120 on some bearings that I intend to replace while I'm off for the Easter holidays which isn't bad.

I don't much care about the depreciation on a 30-year-old vehicle that I bought outright for considerably less than the price of a single car payment for something new.

I doubt I'd get anything for trading it in, and I'd probably get about £100-£150 if I scrapped it, or several thousand quid if I parted it out (you're looking at about £500 for the engine and about £300 for the gearbox alone).

If I was going to replace it, I'd probably replace it with another one the same, although admittedly I don't have to tow 3500kg trailers off road nearly as often as I did a couple of years ago. The choice would be driven by the fact that I have a complete service and workshop manual for it and suitable diagnostics.

I don't want to drive something that has an always-on internet connection or any sort of screen. That's also a pretty big factor.


I get you, I really do. I love being able to repair my own things, I'm comfortable in a shop, and I used to have this attitude.

But man, these ships sailed a long time ago. You don't get anything out of being a stick in the mud except undervaluing your time.


and national security.

Also, given enough hardware, home, or at least local area, repairs save both time and money in practice.




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