LeasePlan analysis: electric cars are cheaper to maintain than conventional drives

LeasePlan has published the latest edition of its "Car Cost Index". According to the leasing and fleet management provider, it shows that the maintenance of electric vehicles from small cars to the upper middle class is cheaper than for conventional drives. The evaluation examines the total cost of ownership of vehicles, including fuel/electricity, depreciation, taxes, insurance and maintenance in a total of 22 European countries.

In most countries, compact and mid-size electric vehicles can compete with petrol and combustion engines in terms of cost, according to LeasePlan. And in the few countries where e-cars are not yet in the same price league as combustion engines, the price difference between e-cars and diesel/petrol vehicles has narrowed significantly. If the trend continues, EVs would be at the same cost level in all countries surveyed – including Eastern European markets such as Romania and Poland – by the mid-2020s.

According to the analysis, the maintenance for an electric car in Germany was just slightly higher than for diesel and petrol engines last year. Now a purely electric car in the upper middle class with monthly costs of 760 euros is 200 euros cheaper than a diesel (960 euros) and more than 100 euros cheaper than a petrol engine (878 euros). A plug-in hybrid is also less expensive than a diesel with a total of 851 euros in maintenance, but is comparable to a petrol engine but almost 100 euros more expensive than an electric car. This picture is also evident in small cars (electric: 570 euros; diesel: 618 euros; petrol: 589 euros) and in the compact class (electric: 618 euros; diesel: 735 euros; petrol: 715 euros).

Key Findings of the LeasePlan Car Cost Index 2021: