New research indicating hidden extra costs involved in running electric fleet vehicles has been published by Total Motion.

Simon Hill, Total Motion director

The fleet management company, which has been managing electric and alternative fuel vehicles since 2004, compared EVs with internal combustion engine (ICE) cars in a number of key areas based on 36 months/75,000 miles and found key differences in a number of areas.

Its analysis of the driving history of more than 2,500 EVs from June 2017 to December 2021 indicates that whilst the standard SMR costs for an EV is approximately 27% lower than that of an ICE vehicle, the cost of a breakdown (excluding accidents) for an EV is 2.7 times more than that of an ICE vehicle – standing at £596 compared to £221.

And the number of breakdowns for an ICE vehicle is 1.9 as opposed to an EV at 3.1.

The average cost of a windscreen is six times that of an ICE vehicle; the average ICE replacement was £397 compared to an overage for an EV.

The Total motion team also compared miles per gallon (MPG) and range performance based on official combined WLTP values and found the ICE vehicle achieved 83.6% whilst the EV achieved 74.1%.

And when it came to insurance, its analysis indicates an EV is approximately 19% higher than that of an ICE equivalent, and in terms of vehicle off road (VOR) days including accidents, the average number of EV VOR days was 15.3 compared to just 2.8 for an ICE vehicle.

Simon Hill, Total Motion director, said: “The findings of the study lead us to conclude that the transition to EV for many fleets is being done far too early, and that this will have significant cost and operational implications.

“Our view on the charging network is that this is so far behind demand that we foresee large queues and increased roadside failures from running out of charge.

“We also believe that the UK charging network, and its installation and creation, requires significant state regulation in order for it to be viable.

“Undoubtedly some of this will improve as more EVs leave the car showrooms, the likelihood is it’s unlikely that they will ever match the ICE vehicles.”

He added: “Our long-term view is that ICE will continue to reduce in volume and EV and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles will continue to increase, with a view to hydrogen or hydrogen plug-in being challengers to EV within 15-20 years.”

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