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Hybrid or EV? (be surprised)

The shift to electric vehicles (EVs) is well underway.

Right now, most people who are considering adding a few electrons to their fuel options are probably tossing up whether to buy a PHEV (plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) or a pure EV.

So what are the pros and cons and which will cost you the least over the life of the vehicle?

The answer may surprise you, when you take one very important element of running costs into account.

One of the big benefits of pure EVs is their simplicity and the resulting dramatic reduction in servicing and maintenance costs.

Replacing hundreds of moving parts with a single electric motor (or two more) makes for dramatically reduced cost of servicing.

No regular oil and filter changes, no "tune-ups", No belts to change, no clutch jobs or other wallet-draining interval or mileage-based services required.

Even things such as brake pads wear far more slowly and may even last the life of the vehicle, thanks to regenerative braking.

Of course the usual things such as tyres and that good old-fashioned lead-acid 12V battery for accessories will still need to be replaced every now and then but that expensive six or twelve-monthly "dealer service" will be far less of an issue than it is for owners of new ICE vehicles.

Then there's the cost of fueling things...

Despite recently announced increases to power charges, electricity is still significantly cheaper (per Km travelled) than petrol -- especially as the latter approaches $3 per litre and looks to go well beyond that (thanks Russia).

One might think therefore, that plug-in hybrid EVs would be far from the most desirable option... right?

After all, they still have an ICE that will require regular preventative maintenance and will need to be fed (albeit occasionally) with expensive fossil fuel. The added complexity of a PHEV might even mean that maintenance and servicing bills are even higher than those for a pure ICE vehicle. Can those extra costs be clawed back in fuel savings?

The answer to that question is probably "not right now, but..."

What's this "but"?

Well one thing that most people have forgotten about is the fact that once EVs reach five percent of our vehicle fleet, the government has promised to bring in road user charges (RUC) in the same way those driving diesel vehicles must pay "per Km" to use the roads.

This would mean that every Km driven by an EV will attract an additional 3 cents (or more), on top of the electricity needed to power it. That can add up pretty quickly and rapidly eats into the cost savings that EVs are supposed to deliver.

However, this is where the PHEV could win big-time.

If your PHEV has enough battery that you very rarely (if ever) have to fire up that ICE then you'll effectively get exemption from those RUC, by virtue of it being a "petrol powered vehicle" under the regs.

While all the Tesla owners are paying $30 per 1,000Km (or maybe even more), you'll only be paying the road tax built into the petrol you buy and that might be just a couple of litres a month or whatever's needed to make up the shortfall if you run your battery flat.

For anyone who does a lot of driving but can do most/all of it using the PHEVs battery rather than petrol, that could make this type of vehicle a lot cheaper to run than either a pure ICE or pure EV -- especially as both petrol and RUC costs increase (as they undoubtedly will).

Will government spot this loophole and come up with some awfully complicated way of levying RUC on PHEVs, albeit only for the miles driven under electric power? I wouldn't discount this possibility but right now it's looking as if PHEVs will be a pretty cost-effective option... until they get old and start needing expensive repairs.

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