The cost of owning an electric car

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(Elbil24):

Owning a car in Norway has always been expensive. High taxes on both the purchase and operation of the vehicle ensure this. With the electric car, it’s even cheaper. It has several advantages such as cheaper tolls and somewhat cheaper service and maintenance than a petrol or diesel car. But first of all, electricity is a much cheaper “fuel”, especially when charging at home.

But the electric car has a huge impact on the family budget. Whichever car you choose, you’ll quickly save around NOK 100,000 per year. With prices and interest rates on the rise, many people want to save money in their car budget.

Choose a less expensive one

It is not difficult. You can save a lot if you choose a more popular model at a slightly lower price, rather than one of the more expensive luxury cars.

Instead of the Audi e-tron, for example, you can choose a two-wheel drive VW ID.4. The space is the same and the comfort is not much worse. You get a well-stocked ID 4 for around NOK 480,000, ready for the road. The Audi Q8 e-tron will quickly set you back NOK 850,000. You’ll of course get all-wheel drive, plenty of horsepower and more luxury in the bargain.

That’s how much you save

But it costs. The annual costs of owning these two cars are NOK 99,000 and NOK 155,000, respectively. This shows fare calculations made by the Road Traffic Information Board (OFV). In other words, you can save NOK 56,000 per year by choosing the cheapest one.

Think twice before choosing two-wheel drive

We took a closer look at the annual budgets for the car, which costs NOK 480,000 and costs NOK 640,000. Here, too, there is a surprising amount that can be saved by choosing the cheapest – more precisely NOK 25,000 per year.

Big money thief

The items that save the most during the year are depreciation or the loss in the value of the car. Only there you can save close to NOK 15,000, according to OFV figures. The interest expense on the loans will also be much lower.

– In some of the examples we’ve calculated, we see that more than half of the costs of owning a car is a loss in value. Few people can accurately predict cost trends in the coming years, but the more expensive a car you buy, the greater the loss in value, says market manager Jan Peter Rosvold of the Road Traffic Information Board, which is responsible for the calculations.

It could be the cheapest electric car in Europe