In your purchase and in your use.
Acquiring an electric car is a movement that must be thought through, since certain factors, such as its high price or infrastructure, “throw back”. However, there are also certain features that can encourage you to take the plunge, such as the fact that there are several ways to save money with an electric car.
In fact, these affect a wide variety of areas, from the acquisition of the car itself to its use on a day-to-day basis.
Savings on the purchase
It may sound contradictory considering that we have commented that zero emission cars are expensive. It is true, in equivalent versions, they cost more than combustion models, whether gasoline or diesel. However, they are also the ones with the greatest discounts, which is a plus.
The MOVES Plan is only applicable to electric cars and plug-in hybrids, but it is the first ones that really take advantage of it.
Any zero emissions that costs 45,000 euros at most, before VAT is applied, benefits from a discount of 4,500 euros, which can also be extended up to 7,000 euros if an old car that is more than seven years old is scrapped.
It is enough of a bonus for a model to lower its rate to be within the price range of a lower segment, something that can tip the balance for a potential buyer.
The tax advantages
The first of all we could include it in the first section, since electric cars do not pay registration taxes, something that helps to slightly contain their price when buying them.
But it is not the only one. The second refers to the circulation tax, as it is known as the Tax on Mechanical Traction Vehicles (IVTM). Although there is no general rule that applies to the entire Spanish territory, rather it depends on each town hall, there are reductions in the ‘numerito’ in certain cities.
The most representative examples are those of Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia or Zaragoza; in which the zero emissions save 75% of the payment. This, year after year, represents considerable savings.
Another advantage (which we could place halfway between this section and the next) is when you have to park in Regulated Parking Zones (SER): electric cars do not have to pay for parking, which represents another significant saving, especially for people who live or circulate through the center of cities on a regular basis.
Savings in use
Although there is a high price barrier to entry when buying an electric car, there are certain advantages that relax it a bit. To these we must also add the most important ones, which are those that affect our day-to-day activities and that, over time, come to compensate more for having zero emissions than a traditional thermal model.
The first is the most obvious: the “refueling” price. Even with the peaks that occurred in 2022 in the price of electricity, it is a much cheaper “fuel” than gasoline or diesel.
Both are skyrocketing and while the peaks ease off from time to time, it seems clear that prices will stabilize at a point higher than they were before the Ukraine war started, so filling up a tank is still going to be a bigger pain. for the wallet than to fill a battery.
Not only that, for practical purposes the consumption of a combustion car is greater than that of an electric one, so it spends twice as much, so to speak.
In addition, although it is possible to fill the tank when prices drop a bit, following the evolution of the price throughout the days, with electric ones it is always possible to recharge during off-peak hours at night, programming the process, so that it is as quick as possible. affordable possible.
Another section that is less obvious, but that cannot be ignored is that its maintenance is easier and cheaper, so it is another important aspect to assess.
The electrical mechanics are simpler than the thermal ones, they have less moving parts and, therefore, fewer components that can give a failure and that need to be repaired and/or replaced. So, at least a priori, in this field it is also possible to save.
In a very related way we find maintenance costs, since many of the operations that must be carried out regularly in combustion cars, do not have to be carried out in electric ones.
Thus, oil changes, filters, etc., which must be carried out from time to time, disappear. Against there are other aspects such as that, by weighing more, elements such as the brakes wear out prematurely.
This is both true and untrue, since EVs compensate by using regenerative braking, stalling the engine, and using the system to stop instead of just using the brakes themselves.
