The disproportionate increase in the price of fuel and electricity forces us to take stock of whether using an electric car continues to have a lower cost per use than driving a diesel or gasoline vehicle. We turned to the Peugeot 208, the best-selling car in Europe, to prove it.
Both electricity rates and the price of gasoline and diesel have increased sharply in recent months due to the controversial economic and political situation prevailing worldwide. The rising cost of energy it is being notorious and it does not seem that the situation is going to change its trend soon.
This increase in rates is evident every time we visit a gas station or use a charging point. Until now, charging the battery of an electric vehicle has always been considerably cheaper than filling the tank of an equivalent car with a combustion engine, but in this new scenario is it still like this?
Let’s take the Peugeot 208 as an example, the best-selling model in Europe and which also has petrol, diesel and electric versions. Perhaps this range of mobility options is one of the reasons for the success of the second generation of the French utility vehicle.
Three quarters of sales in the B segment correspond to gasoline versions. The 208 offers three options for this fuel with 75, 100 and 130 hp. Bearing in mind that the current cost of a liter of gasoline 95 is around €2.20/litre, a petrol Peugeot 208 would cost €11.60/100 km. The price is made without counting the transitory reduction of 20 cents per liter, a government bonus that applies in all Spanish service stations.
If we take a look at the diesel pump, the 208 range offers a single 100 hp diesel variant. Here things improve from an economic point of view both because the cost of fuel is lower, around €1.90/litre, and because of the low consumption that the French model is capable of achieving. The result is that on average with diesel there is an expense of €7.60/100 km.
Continuing with the example of the 208, in the offer with the Zero label of the urbanite of the lion brand is the peugeot e-208. It is one of the best-selling electric cars and is powered by a 100 kW (136 hp) electric motor. With its 50 kWh lithium-ion battery you can achieve a autonomy up to 362 km according to the WLTP cycle.
Does traveling 100 km with an electric car cost more or less than with a combustion car?
The short answer is “it depends”. Yes, using an electric vehicle can be noticeably more expensive depending on the load circumstances. This is because the price range of a recharge is very wide: recharging an e-208 to 100% can cost between €1.5 and €39.5.
Most users recharge their electric car at home. It is a simple matter of practicality but also It is the most economical option, especially if you take advantage of the rates with hourly discrimination.. Many electricity companies divide the prices into several periods (peak hours from 1:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., off-peak hours from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. and from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. :00) and by scheduling the charging of the vehicle, you can take advantage of the cheapest period.
The range of prices is wide between the cheapest rate with discrimination on the market (€0.03/kWh) and a single rate without hourly discrimination (€0.31/kWh). In these cases, a full charge of the e-208 will be between €1.50 and €15.50, respectively. In other words, with domestic recharging the cost will be between 0.5 and 3.6 €/100 km.
It is a very substantial reduction compared to the gasoline and diesel options that confirms that the cost of use is notably lower in electric cars, which allows the higher selling price of BEVs to be compensated with the passage of kilometers. The comparison is even more disproportionate if the home has a self-consumption installation, for example with photovoltaic panels, since the cost of the load can be directly zero.
Things can change if you resort to public chargers, taking advantage of the fact that the Peugeot e-208 has a charging power of up to 100 kW in direct current. Once again, the price range can be very wide, going from €0.20/kWh to €0.79/kWh on the most expensive ultra-fast charging network.
In this way, In public charging, the cost of using the e-208 can range between €3.40 and €13.60/100 km. The upper part of this range makes the cost of using an electric car more expensive than the gasoline and diesel alternatives. Obviously, the great advantage of this type of network is the higher recharging speed and, in general, public recharging points are used on an occasional basis since they are reserved for emergency situations or for long journeys.