“Who can afford a $50k electric car?” Think of it as a $32k car
With $2.15 gas and government rebates, monthly costs are identical (and long term you’d be well ahead with an EV)
As I noted in an earlier post about saving money buying an EV, there is some plausible evidence that the cost of an EV in Canada over its lifespan is already significantly cheaper than the cost of an equivalent gas car. But a sizeable chunk of the cost savings are because of the lower maintenance costs over the life of the vehicle which you can’t benefit from right away. So if you are just focused on monthly payments, can you go electric? Well, with gas prices as they are now, you might be surprised to find the payments for a “cheaper” gas car are already higher than those pricy-looking EVs. I used my own recent purchase as an example.
The 2022 Hyundai Tucson is considered fairly similar to my 2022 Ioniq 5 (though my car’s “preferred” trim is better than the equivalent Tucson as it includes a bigger touchscreen and satnav as standard) and the Tucson is $32,239 instead of $48,936 for my Ioniq 5 (if you could buy one). But factor in the federal and provincial rebate ($7,500 here in NL), and the difference in actual cost starts to narrow, as reflected in the finance cost — the Tucson would cost $515/month, while the Ioniq 5 would cost $677.
Now what happens if you add in the cost of gas vs electricity?
For someone driving 15,000 a year, the monthly cost of a Tucson jumps to $734, while the Ioniq 5’s monthly cost barely budges, hitting $706.
Of course, there are many ways this calculation might differ depending on your circumstances — you might get different levels of government subsidy, you might drive more or less than this distance, gas prices might go down (or up!). But it’s striking to me that looking at this case at least, we have already arrived at a tipping point. EVs seem to be not just cheaper in the long term in Canada, they’re now cheaper than their equivalents as soon as you drive them off the lot. A new study in the US just found the same thing.
The big problem that remains is that carmakers in North America seem uninterested in making less expensive cars, especially when selling EVs. Mid to low end vehicles do exist but are mainly being sold in Europe and China. I’d love it if this Dacia Spring was available here — if it had the same price as it does in France it would cost less than $20,000 here!
