Here we discuss the payback period of an EV and the factors that affect this process. This is because the low running and maintenance costs of such vehicles are a plus, but the high initial cost outweighs the low running and maintenance costs.
What Is Payback Period For An EV?
The payback period for an EV is the time after which such electric vehicles truly benefit their owners as compared to ICE vehicles.
The amount of CO2 released into the environment during the manufacturing of an EV is much more than that of a gasoline or diesel vehicle.
Thus, for neutralizing the effect of these extra emissions, the EV has to be driven more than 20,000 kilometers or so, varying with EV make and type.
This is when the EV starts to pay back not only for the extra cost that was put into the purchase but also for getting the environmental benefit.
It was recently proved by a model developed by the Argonne National Laboratory located in Chicago.
The results were deduced from studying multiple vehicles and a plethora of factors affecting this payback period.
What Factors Determine The Payback Period Of An EV?
For determining the payback period of an EV, several factors need to be taken into account. Here are a few of them.
Size Of The EV Battery
The size of the battery that has been put in a vehicle determines the payback period. The reason is that the bigger a battery is, the more metals were extracted to manufacture it.
This means that the payback period is directly proportional to the quantity of raw material that was mined for manufacturing the battery and the EV as a whole.
The higher amount of CO2 emissions produced by EVs during manufacturing is chiefly because of these EV batteries. Thus the battery size is a prime factor in determining the payback period of an EV.
Fuel Economy
Depending upon how economical an EV or an ICE vehicle is, the payback period can vary drastically.
The payback period is shorter for EVs that are more efficient. However, on the contrary, luxury EVs with big batteries and low per kW efficiency have higher payback periods.
Power Used To Charge An EV
The amount of power required to charge an EV as well as how efficient the whole charging process is also determines the payback period.
Nature Of EV Charging
By this, we mean that if an EV is charged by renewable energy sources, its per km emissions (taking into account the charging process) will be zero. This will shorten the payback period.
Using Apps For Calculating Journey Costs
As the EV segment is flourishing, more and more companies are joining the bandwagon by offering solutions that were previously inexistent.
One such example is the journey cost calculator offered by the apps of various EV charge providers.
The UK based Zap-Map offers this service to its customers. Through its easy to use interface, even the website of Zap allows users to select the EV and then the ICE vehicle they want to compare.
The models of both vehicles also need to be selected for making it a fair comparison.
Final Verdict
The payback period of an EV is an important figure which helps us in knowing when exactly the electric vehicle becomes beneficial for us.
This number is also forcing electric vehicle manufacturers to work harder to reduce the emissions due to batteries. If this happens, the environmental impact will reduce further.
Britain cannot and will not reach net Zero anytime in the future, the government has just given permission for 6 more oil and gas fields to be developed in the North sea. Another of that clown Boris’s ideas…..
But don’t you think that it is necessary to have both gas production in the North Sea and renewable energy developed by the side? Considering the current geopolitical situation with Russia, it makes sense to first transition to energy independence from other countries and have gas & oil production at home. Only then gradually change to renewables.🤷