The ID.3 driving along a small village road with old cottages each side
Cost of ownership

How do electric cars compare on cost?

Cost of ownership

How do electric cars compare on cost?

With an electric car, you’re saving money, you’re saving the environment and you get to drive a car of the future. What’s not to love?

Make the switch easier

We’ve created a collection of e-mobility tools to help you check if switching to an electric car would benefit you based on how you drive. Our tools allow you to estimate your range based on your driving profile, discover how quickly you can charge an electric car, and even estimate running costs.

1
Plug-in car grant

The government encourages making the switch to electric by offering a range of grants and schemes to make buying an electric car cheaper. Read on to discover how you could benefit.

Find out more about government grants

A young child connecting a plug to the front of a Volkswagen Passat GTE.
2
Easier to run

Easier to run
Electric cars not only cost less for the Earth, but also cost you less to run. Electricity is far cheaper than petrol or diesel, meaning you could reduce your running costs by a third.

Easier to service
Battery. Motor. Converter. That’s all an electric car needs. With fewer parts, it’s easier to diagnose problems and cheaper to fix them. Plug-in hybrids are also easier to maintain because their petrol engines are used less frequently.

Easier to protect
Electric cars are often cheaper to insure than their petrol equivalents. Take the Golf GTE for example, its insurance band is 25E whereas the TSI Golf GTI is in 39E. Given that insurance groups go from 1-50 in ascending order of cost, this could make you a substantial saving.

 

A view of a VW ID.3 in “Dark Olivine Green Metallic” parked on a driveway with a man plugging in the charger
3
Congestion charge and parking

Electric cars are exempt from London’s congestion charge and can be driven in the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). This could save you up to £27.50 a day. Electric cars also get free parking in many areas of the UK.

A man using his smart phone app, next to a Volkswagen e-Golf.
4
Make tax less taxing: VED and BiK rates

Electric vehicles are completely exempt from Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), more commonly known as road tax. This is because for cars registered after March 2001 the tax is calculated using the tailpipe’s CO2 emissions. If you choose an electric car as your company car, you’ll also pay no Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax.

An e-Golf parked on a road and a woman walking a dog on the pavement next to the car
5
Forward-looking

The value stability of electric vehicles depends primarily on two factors: a competitive range and the durability of the battery. In both cases, you can sit back and relax in the new ID.3.

On the one hand, the ID.3 offers much longer ranges than most previous electric vehicles, making it suitable for everyday use and ensuring that it remains competitive for years to come. On the other hand, all ID. models come with a battery guarantee for eight years or 100,000 miles/160,000 km.

On the whole, we are expecting your ID.3 to reach the same residual value as a similar combustion engine vehicle in future.

A view of a VW ID.3 in “Dark Olivine Green Metallic” parked on the side of the road.
6
Total cost of ownership

The overall costs for an electric vehicle are likely to be similar to that of a comparable combustion engine vehicle – possibly lower. That’s thanks to attractive pricing and leasing instalments, expected government funding, good residual values and lower maintenance costs.

Ask our useful tool to calculate the total cost of owning any Volkseagen electric vehicle. 

A man about to plug in his ID.3 at a charging station

Cost of ownership

Pick any Volkswagen electric or hybrid vehicle and compare it with up to four other Volkswagen models to see how the cost of ownership compares.

Next steps

Should you go electric?

Save with electric

Our pure electric cars

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