EV Analysis: Drive More to Save More

An electric passenger car costs its owner at least $5,000 (€4,000) more over the vehicle's lifetime than a fossil-fueled car of comparable capacity, according to a policy brief by the International Transport Forum.

But that's mainly because such vehicles are driven an average of only about 20 miles per day. The ITF says high-travel EVs delivery vans and taxis, for example save their owners about $5,000 over the vehicle's lifetime.

The group says the more an EV travels per day, the more cost-effective it becomes compared to a comparable fossil-fueled vehicle. It suggests that drivers with relatively long daily commutes would probably save money by switching to an EV, assuming the car had sufficient battery power or recharging capacity to make the trip.

The study says the overall societal costs for EVs are $8,800-$15,100 (€7,000-€12,000) higher than for fossil-fueled equivalent vehicles over their service life.

A typical passenger EV emits about 20 tons less carbon dioxide than the closest fossil-fuel alternative vehicles, according to the study. But it says the higher cost of EVs represents a societal cost of $630-$880 (€500-€700) per ton of CO₂ avoided, a relatively high price compared with other methods of lowering such emissions.

ITF's societal analysis considers subsidies and impact on air pollution but ignore fuel taxes and the benefits to energy security. The group notes that efficiency improvements in EVs that shrink the cost gap with fossil-fueled cars won't be enough to offset fuel efficiency gains for the latter, at least through the end of the decade.

ITF is a think tank on transport policy for the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The group bases its EV cost analysis on the French market, where consumers can choose from several models that are nearly identical except for their powertrains.

The three-page summary of TF's analysis can be downloaded HERE.