Does It Cost More to Operate an Electric Vehicle Than Gas-Powered?

When you bought that new electric car of yours, we bet you thought you’d be saving all kinds of mad money. We hate to break it to you, but it turns out it is probably going to cost you more than an gas car in the long run.

Many people buy electric cars because of the lower refueling and maintenance costs, but when you try to sell it down the road, you’re going to lose out. A report from the BBC says that in U.K., an electric vehicle is about 13 percent more expensive to operate than a similar gas-powered car during the first three years of ownership.

If you live in the U.K and are planning to purchase the Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car, you’ll have to pay about 10,600 pounds (that’s around $16,391) that’s driven a combined 36,000 miles over the first three years. Compare that to the 9,339 pounds ($11,834) you’d expect to shell out for a gas-powered Fiat 500 Lounge. The EV cost also counts the in the 5,000 pound ($6,335) tax credit they’d receive from the British government.

Taking into consideration that the higher cost is related to the depreciation of the i-MiEV, which has a sticker price of 28,990 pounds ($36,731), making it three times more expensive than the Fiat. Both of these cars will lose about half their respective values over the first three years, and the i-MiEV’s depreciation costs more than offset the 2,848 pounds ($3,609) in refueling costs the Mitsubishi owners will save over the three years.

And when you think about it, Mitsubishi gets more points once London’s congestion charge is added in. This can total up to 5,100 pounds ($6,461) of expenses to drivers of gas-powered vehicles that wouldn’t apply to EV owners.

[Source: Edmunds]