Is your daily driver getting long in the tooth? Perhaps it’s time to send it to the big car yard in the sky. That means you’re officially back in the market for a new one and choosing among EV, hybrid, or ice.
Back when you bought an old faithful, there was likely only one choice of engine. Now you’re open to three major players: Electric Vehicles, Hybrids, and Internal Combustion engines (ICE), or ones that run on petrol or diesel (or LPG!)
So what should you get? What are the advantages of each? What about the drawbacks? Read our review of each type so you can make an informed decision.
Electric Vehicles
Electric Vehicles (EVs) in this instance refers to Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) as hybrids are often lumped into the category too. EVs are becoming popular as their running and maintenance costs are often a fraction of what you can expect to pay when using an ICE vehicle.
If you drive in urban and suburban areas where chargers are plentiful, you won’t have any problems getting to and from your destinations. Your own business may also install one as a courtesy for customers, or as an additional revenue stream!
The downsides to EVs, at least at the moment are the costs of entry. Entry-level EVs cost upwards of $39,000, while equivalent ICE vehicles could be had for $10,000 cheaper.
Hybrid Vehicles
If you’re considering a hybrid vehicle, it’s essentially the best of the electric and ICE world smoothed together in one package: it’s powered by a conventional ICE engine as well as a battery pack.
The ICE engine (as well as braking) charges the battery pack, and the car moves between the two depending on which option is most efficient or required at the time. Hybrids save a lot of money on petrol – not as much as an EV, of course – and their maintenance costs are modestly less than an EV, due to having legacy moving parts. Hybrids are usually brimming with creature comforts and safety features but will still carry a premium over ICE vehicles.
ICE/Petrol Vehicles
We all know the score with ICE vehicles – we’ve been driving them since we got our license. The bottom line with ICE vehicles is that they’re much cheaper to buy than EVs or Hybrids, but far more expensive to maintain.
You can buy certified used or used ICE vehicles for a song compared to EVs too, and petrol stations are here to stay for the foreseeable future. Of course, fuel prices continue to climb which is something you need to keep on top of.
Which one is best from a bottom-line perspective?
Since a business can claim much of their car expenditure back from tax paid, it makes more financial sense to invest in an EV or hybrid, especially if you can get a green loan that offers significant fee and interest rate discounts, and if you can get state or territory business incentives to take up green technology.
From that perspective, EVs may be your future-proof way of maintaining good business through sustainable solutions.