by Cars with European license plates and electric vehicles can be called the main trends in the used car market in Ukraine. Both of these categories of cars have seriously gained popularity in recent years. The popular blogger Zen Antipop decided to compare an electric car and a car with “plates.” We present his text with minimal cuts and changes.
Let’s buy a “Euro-plate”!
Let’s imagine that you acquired some average “plate.” For instance, an untaxed 2000 BMW 3. That is, an 18-year-old car with over 300,000 km mileage and a 2-liter engine. It will cost somewhere around $2000-3000. Let it be $2000.
Let’s buy electric?
First of all, it’s nice to know that Ukraine (temporarily) canceled ALL excise duties and fees for importing fully electric cars, as well as the VAT payment! That is, as of today, you can custom-clear an electric car absolutely FREE!
A 2014-2016 Nissan Leaf (the most popular electric car in the world today) will cost you somewhere around $15,000 (depending on the year, condition, and equipment, you can find both more expensive and cheaper, but on average somewhere like that). This is including the purchase, insurance, shipping from the States and customs clearance, as well as considering the interest of a dealership that will do all of this for you (if you want to buy and bring it yourself – you will spend a few thousand dollars less).
Thus, you will have an absolutely legal modern 2-4-year-old car with a mileage of 20-50 thousand km, brought from the USA (where you can find out everything about each car from the open database, etc.), and not a 15-20-year-old semi-legal junk from Poland or Lithuania.
Ok, age, mileage, legal status, that’s all good, but I paid $2000 for the “plate,” and here it’s as much as $15,000 — a huge difference, you will say!
Fine, but you bought the car not to admire it in the garage, but to drive it, right? So let’s see what will come of it.
Operating a “plate”
So, you bought an 18-year-old untaxed BMW for $2000 and rejoice. And then you start operating it.
In a year of normal human use (not a taxi, not other professional activities on the car), the car will travel about 15-20 thousand km. Let it be 15 thousand km. This is only about 40 km per day – to work, from work, and somewhere else to drive in your free time.
So, the fuel consumption of such a car will be about 10 l/100 km (in the city it can be more, outside the city — less, but on average somewhere like that). We will also take the fuel price as average. Today – 30 UAH/liter (with a tendency for constant price increase, by the way ).
Having driven 15 thousand km on your BMW in a year, you have spent about 1500 liters of fuel, which is about 45,000 UAH, or $1700. Let’s add annual maintenance + some minor repairs (a 20-year-old car will definitely need it periodically). This is another $300 minimum per year.
Thus, quite moderate operation of your car without incidents will cost approximately $2000 per year. Over 5 years of operation, this will cost you somewhere around $10,000, by modest estimates. And this is without serious repairs, breakdowns, etc.
That is, after 5 years you have a 25-year-old morally and physically outdated untaxed car with a mileage of about 400 thousand km, on which you have spent a total of $2000 + $10,000 = $12,000. And this is the MINIMUM.
If you continue to use the car further, then these costs will increase by at least $2000 each year. So, over the next 5 years, you will spend ANOTHER $10,000, although most likely more, as by that time the car will literally start falling apart and require even more financial investments.
Or you will sell it in 5 years (if it will still be possible to sell an untaxed car by then), even for the same $2000 you bought it for (which is unlikely, but let’s dream). In this case, you remain with a loss of at least 10 thousand dollars, which you cannot compensate for.
And this is considering the option that during these 5 years they never adopt the law, which euro-plate owners themselves demand so much, and under which the car will have to be taxed, paying something for it. But this is also unlikely, as such a law has ALREADY been approved in the first reading. According to it, the customs clearance of our car under the new reduced rates will be somewhere around 1500 euros, or more than $1700. Add this to your own expenses. $2000 (purchase) + $1700 (customs clearance) + $10,000 (5 years of operation, fuel, maintenance, repair) = $13,700.
If sold in 5 years, then minus about $2000, i.e., the total cost of the “plate” in case of sale will be $11,700-12,000 over 5 years.
Operating an electric car
So, you took a 2-3-year-old Nissan from the USA with a mileage of 30 thousand km for $15000. Took and drove those same 15 thousand km in a year. For this, you spent about 2000 kWh of electricity (Leaf can travel over 7 km on 1 kWh, for me, for example, it’s 7.2 km).
Where to get this electricity? You can charge at home or in the garage from a regular 220V outlet at household rates (1.7 UAH per kWh), and even better – at night rates (0.9 UAH per kWh). You can charge at faster charging stations priced from 3 to 5 UAH per kWh. You can use superchargers for 4-6 UAH per kWh. Or you can charge for FREE! Yes, imagine, free fuel, and there are plenty of such points.
But let’s take some average option, let it be that on average for the whole year you charged at 3 UAH per kWh. 2000 kWh * 3 UAH = 6000 UAH, or $230.
Again: you spent $230 ON “FUEL” FOR A YEAR on an electric car!!!
Regarding maintenance, Leaf needs it not once every 10-15 thousand km of mileage, like gasoline cars, but only once every 30 thousand km. That is, somewhere once every 2 years. And it’s much cheaper, as there is essentially nothing to serve. Replacement of lubricating oil in the gearbox and replacement of the cabin filter. And also, once every 60 thousand – replacement of brake pads. That is, God willing, you will spend $30-50 a year for all maintenance. Let’s round up all expenses (“fuel” + maintenance + repair) to $300 a year.
Over 5 years, this will amount to as much as $1500. That is, the purchase and operation of an electric car over 5 years will cost you $15,000 + $1500 = $16,500.
So over 5 years of operation you have a 7-8-year-old custom-cleared electric car with a mileage of about 100 thousand km. Let’s say it loses 50% of its value during this time. If at this moment you sell it, you could do so for, say, $7000-$7500.
It turns out that over 5 years you are only $9000 in the red. AND THIS IS AT LEAST $4000 LESS THAN IN THE CASE WITH THE “PLATE”!
Here the opponents will tell a fable they heard somewhere about the “electric car battery living for 3-5 years” and costing a fortune. But this is a myth!
Yes, of course, over time lithium-ion batteries lose their capacity. But first, not so fast, but only by 5-6% per year. That is, an 8-year-old electric car will lose on average only 40-50% of its original battery capacity. But this is in a Nissan, and in the same Tesla, the battery degradation is only 1-2% per year…
Leaf’s battery consists of modules, so over time you can replace not the entire battery, but only the “bad” modules, which is significantly cheaper.
Also, you don’t throw away the old battery, but SELL it, as there are many interesting applications for used electric car batteries. For example, for energy accumulation from solar panels for home lighting at night and so on. That is, selling the old battery partially compensates for the cost of the new one.
In addition, each year battery prices decrease, as their mass production constantly grows along with the popularity of electric cars. If 8 years ago 1 kWh of a battery cost about $1000, now it is less than $200. Imagine how much they will cost in another 8 years, and how much it will actually cost you to replace the battery in 5-10 years of operation.
So think, calculate and decide what is better:
A 20-year-old morally and physically outdated junk, which will cost you significantly more in operation, has a questionable legal status and related risks and additional expenses?
— Or maybe a legal, modern, promising, environmentally friendly, super-economical car of the future, available today?
As for me, the choice is obvious! And not just me, because over the past few years Ukraine is in the top ten countries worldwide with the highest growth rates of electric cars in their fleet, and in certain years we even ranked 5th.
