Is it time to buy an electric car?

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You don’t have to be an expert to know that the electric car is the future. The question is: is it the present? or its the time to buy an electric car? As almost always in all questions, everything is relative, it will depend on different factors.

What is a reality is that the number of electric cars in Spain is small. Selling these types of vehicles is still very prudent. At this time it only reaches 0.6% of the market. Why this low figure if it is the car of the future and in the market there is a great variety of makes and models?

Let’s first analyze the advantages of buying an electric car right now:

Advantages to buy an electric car

• The cost of consumption is minimal

The economic efficiency will depend on the daily kilometers that are made. The more kilometers a day, the more efficient the electric car will be versus the combustion car option.

• Maintenance cost is lower than combustion cost

Existing studies indicate that the cost will be between 30% and 40% lower as a result of the number of parts in the car being between 50% and 60% lower. That is, fewer parts to check and fewer parts that can be damaged.

• Free parking in many cities

There are more and more payment exception zones in time-controlled car parks.

• Exemption from payment of tolls

On the motorways of certain Administrations, as is the case in Catalonia, their payment exemption has been established.

• Total or partial reductions of certain taxes, tax advantages

In both state and municipal taxes, electric cars can benefit from tax advantages, for example, the total exemption of the registration tax and the partial reduction of the road tax, specifically, up to 75% in state tax.

• Possibility of mobility

In large cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, ​​on days when high pollution reduces the mobility of combustion vehicles, electric vehicles enjoy more mobility.

These are undoubtedly the existing advantages from a personal and family point of view, but probably the most important advantage from a social point of view is respect for the environment  in the form of helping to reduce CO2 emissions and prevent global warming of the Earth.

If there are all these advantages, how is it possible that the market penetration of electric vehicles is still not greater?

Disadvantages to buy an electric car

Let’s look at the downsides:

• More expensive electric cars

An electric car is considerably more expensive . Depending on the model, between 5,000 and 13,000 euros more than its equivalent in combustion engine.

• Lack of autonomy of the batteries and recharging time

Currently it is the weak point of the electric car, although all brands are working on improving these two aspects.

It is essential to have a car recharging in the family car park and then there is the problem of a significant lack of infrastructure in Spain for recharging, complicating management on long trips.

• Fear of expiration when buying an electric vehicle

As a consequence of the fact that it is a new product and taking into account the rapid advance in technologies, it may mean that buying an electric car at this time is a little forward-looking decision in view of the probability that it will become obsolete in a few years.

We could even name one more cause of reluctance when buying an electric car, a psychological cause, which consists of a certain individual resistance to making a significant investment in a new product that is not entirely known.

All this conditions the electric car for its sale and, for the moment, we can still consider it as an eminently urban car.

The variables will be basically oriented towards the situation that the habitual residence is in a big city or in a town, the kilometers that are made daily, the structure available in load, etc.

Assess in each case, quantify and make the decision