EVs vs petrol & diesel: which is better in winter?

roamtheworld

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https://upshift.co.uk/blog/evs-vs-petrol-and-diesel-in-winter/
With spiralling electricity costs on the one hand and a looming ban on petrol and diesel sales on the other, the decision to switch to – or stick with – electric isn’t as straightforward as it should be at the moment. And it’s not helped by the efficiency of electric vehicles (EVs) being questioned in winter.

But what’s the reality? Electric cars are less efficient in cold weather, however the same is true of combustion-engined cars. A better question is on which is the cheapest to run when factoring in the reduced range and miles per gallon.

UpShift has calculated the cost of running the most popular electric and petrol or diesel car in normal and cold conditions around the world – to determine which is the best option this winter.

Key findings:

  • Drivers in all but one country (Germany) will save money with an EV this winter – with an average of £55.41 saved each month compared to petrol and diesel.
  • Drivers in the US, however, will save £157.59 ($193.84) each month.
  • UK motorists will save £44.89 a month through winter, more than a tenner below the average.
  • Across all fuel types, UK drivers face the third-highest increase in running costs (£23.28 per month), behind only Germany and the US (£28.01 and £25.36 per month respectively).
  • EV owners in China will spend less than any others this winter, with running costs of only £5.35 per month – 15 times cheaper than the UK’s £80.04 per month.
American EV owners will save the most this winter

Compared with running a petrol or diesel car in winter, EV owners in America will save more than any other country’s drivers – $193.84 each month, or £157.59 in our money. And that figure is even more impressive when considering that electric cars are up to 41 per cent less efficient in cold weather.

Compared: the costs of running an electric car and petrol/diesel car in winter

CountryFuel typeCold-weather cost per mile (£)Cold-weather cost per month (£)Monthly savings running an EV in winter
USAElectric0.0564.19157.59
Petrol/diesel0.19221.78
New ZealandElectric0.0734.42124.29
Petrol/diesel0.31158.70
CanadaElectric0.0328.05113.07
Petrol/diesel0.16141.12
IcelandElectric0.0425.4799.93
Petrol/diesel0.19125.40
FinlandElectric0.0854.9787.59
Petrol/diesel0.20142.56
South KoreaElectric0.0219.9866.82
Petrol/diesel0.1086.80
NorwayElectric0.0528.8766.41
Petrol/diesel0.1595.28
ChinaElectric0.015.3560.60
Petrol/diesel0.1165.95
SwedenElectric0.1166.4150.23
Petrol/diesel0.18116.64
UKElectric0.1480.0444.89
Petrol/diesel0.22124.93
GreeceElectric0.0737.1244.73
Petrol/diesel0.1581.85
PortugalElectric0.0736.9544.28
Petrol/diesel0.1681.23
SwitzerlandElectric0.0851.0938.18
Petrol/diesel0.1489.27
FranceElectric0.0742.0738.07
Petrol/diesel0.1380.14
SpainElectric0.1052.8225.51
Petrol/diesel0.1478.33
ItalyElectric0.1149.1621.56
Petrol/diesel0.1670.72
NetherlandsElectric0.1054.8621.21
Petrol/diesel0.1376.07
DenmarkElectric0.1456.9516.05
Petrol/diesel0.1873.00
BelgiumElectric0.1281.913.47
Petrol/diesel0.1385.38
GermanyElectric0.16111.19-16.34
Petrol/diesel0.1394.84
Calculated from worldwide electricity and fuel costs, applied to each country’s average mileage and most popular car of each fuel type. Results based on an EV’s 41 per cent drop in efficiency and an ICE car’s 11 per cent drop in efficiency in cold weather. Figures rounded to the nearest pence.

Thanks to lower electricity rates, Americans will pay only 7c per mile to run an EV in cold weather, or $78.95 per month, compared to 23c per mile and $272.79 per month to run a petrol or diesel vehicle.

And it’s a good job, as the USA stretches further north than any of the other countries in our research, allowing for some seriously low temperatures – Fairbanks, Alaska, for example, reaches only -2 degrees Celsius on average.

New Zealand and Canada make up the rest of the top three, with £124.29 and £113.07 in monthly savings respectively.

UK motorists still save when driving an EV in winter, but rank tenth overall

The UK doesn’t fair as well, although our electric car drivers still save £44.89 per month (more than a tenner below the average), largely down to our cost of electricity ranking among the more costly countries. Each mile travelled costs 14p – almost three times that of the US.

Across the winter season, however, that’s £134.67 saved. And those savings will multiply as the temperatures increase through 2023. The usual savings per month, based on milder weather, are £63.97, meaning the UK’s EV motorists will save £710.40 across the year.

These calculations are based on an average fuel cost of £1.83 per litre in the UK. But, factoring in the drop in efficiency that petrol and diesel cars also suffer in winter (11 per cent), the price you pay at the pumps is equivalent to £2.03 for every litre. That’s second only to Iceland, whose drivers pay the equivalent of £2.06 per litre in winter.

Germany is the only country paying more to run an EV than a petrol or diesel in winter

With the highest cost per mile to run an electric car in our research (16p for every mile travelled), we found Germany to be the only country that’s cheaper for petrol and diesel cars (13p per mile) in winter. Each month, EV owners there will pay £16.34 more than those in an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle.

German drivers face the steepest increase in costs across all fuel types

We now know that most motorists around the world will recoup some cash driving an electric car in winter compared to a petrol or diesel, but exactly how much more are drivers overall due to pay than they were in summer and autumn 2022?

Which countries face the most increased running costs in winter?

CountryUsual cost per month (£)Cold-weather cost per month (£)Cost-per-month increase (£)
Germany75.00103.0128.01
USA117.63142.9825.36
UK79.20102.4823.28
Belgium62.1683.6521.49
Sweden71.4991.5220.03
Finland79.6698.7719.11
New Zealand80.7896.5615.78
Denmark68.1264.9715.69
Netherlands50.0365.4615.43
Switzerland54.7970.1815.38
Spain50.4465.5715.14
Italy45.9759.9413.97
Canada71.0784.5913.51
France48.0761.1013.03
Iceland63.3275.4412.12
Greece47.3859.4912.11
Portugal47.0559.0912.04
Norway50.9162.0711.16
South Korea44.5253.398.87
China30.9335.654.72
Calculated from worldwide electricity and fuel costs, applied to each country’s average mileage and most popular car of each fuel type. Results based on an EV’s 41 per cent drop in efficiency and an ICE car’s 11 per cent drop in efficiency in cold weather. Figures rounded to the nearest pence.

Across electric, petrol and diesel cars, Germany will have the most significant increase in running costs this winter – jumping by £28.01 each month on average. However, electric cars account for the biggest portion of that figure, as EVs there are estimated to cost £45.59 more in winter, compared to an increase of just £10.43 for petrol and diesel.

The USA and UK are just behind with increases of £25.36 and £23.28 respectively. These average increases are shared more evenly between EV and ICE vehicles, though, especially in the US where electric running costs have jumped by £26.32 per month and petrol/diesel costs by £24.40.

Drivers in Asia get the best deal in terms of the increase in running costs across all fuel types

We found China and South Korea to be the only countries with an average cost increase of less than £10 per month for electric, petrol and diesel vehicles combined.

While the latter will pay £8.87 more each month, drivers in China will pay a cold-weather premium of just £4.72.

UK motorists pay 15 times more than the cheapest country

The above is mostly thanks to China’s electricity rate, which means an EV costs just £5.35 per month to run in cold weather – even after the estimated drop in efficiency of 41 per cent.

EV winter running costs by country

CountryCold-weather cost per mile (£)Cold-weather cost per month (£)
China0.015.35
South Korea0.0219.98
Iceland0.0425.47
Canada0.0328.05
Norway0.0528.87
New Zealand0.0734.42
Portugal0.0736.95
Greece0.0737.12
France0.0742.07
Italy0.1149.16
Switzerland0.0851.09
Spain0.1052.82
Netherlands0.1054.86
Finland0.0854.97
Denmark0.1456.95
USA0.0564.19
Sweden0.1166.41
UK0.1480.04
Belgium0.1281.91
Germany0.16111.19
Calculated from worldwide electricity and fuel costs, applied to each country’s average mileage and most popular EV. Results based on an EV’s 41 per cent drop in efficiency in cold weather. Figures rounded to the nearest pence.

Drivers in the UK, by stark comparison, are looking at cold-weather monthly costs of £80.04 – 15 times greater than China. This is largely down to the cost of living crisis driving up rates of fuel and electricity, among many other things, in 2022. The impact could be felt through 2023, too, with the potential for those figures to inflate further before they begin to stabilise.

The costs are worse still for Belgium and Germany, where electric car owners will pay £81.91 and £111.19 each month respectively.

That said, EV drivers in every country bar Germany can take comfort in EVs still being noticeably cheaper to run in winter, dispelling the belief that electric cars are not practical in winter.

This research was conducted by UpShift, the automotive performance marketing agency. Find more automotive insight on the UpShift blog.

Methodology

The countries included in our study have the highest EV sales figures, according to the IEA Global EV Outlook 2022 report, thus making the electric-versus-ICE debate a relevant one. After determining the most popular electric and ICE cars by nation, we calculated their usual running costs – from the latest costs of fuel/electricity by country, range/miles per gallon and each country’s average mileage per driver.

We then calculated cold-weather running costs, based on the estimated drop in efficiency of each fuel type – 41 per cent for EVs and 11 per cent for petrol and diesel vehicles. Together, these calculations gave estimated running costs per mile, month and year, for both mild and cold weather.
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RickMachE

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Of course "save" is a ridiculous term, since it doesn't take into account BUYING the vehicle. Sure, buying a comparably priced gas vs. EV can be evaluated, but getting rid of a paid for vehicle vs. buying a new vehicle is near impossible to cost justify.
 
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roamtheworld

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Of course "save" is a ridiculous term, since it doesn't take into account BUYING the vehicle. Sure, buying a comparably priced gas vs. EV can be evaluated, but getting rid of a paid for vehicle vs. buying a new vehicle is near impossible to cost justify.
This is why the average age of vehicle ownership is 12 years.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2022/05/24/average-american-car-12-years-old/9907901002/

It is an important factor in auto ownership the cost to use and maintain a vehicle so the lower that is over the time you use it the better. EVs do have some advantages over ICE.
 

kltye

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Of course "save" is a ridiculous term, since it doesn't take into account BUYING the vehicle. Sure, buying a comparably priced gas vs. EV can be evaluated, but getting rid of a paid for vehicle vs. buying a new vehicle is near impossible to cost justify.
That's true, but it's also nice to have articles refute stupid ones written - like the one that says fueling up an EV is actually more expensive than gas cars. Lots of people don't think 100% logically, and removing misinformation about EVs can only help its adoption.
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