ORIGINAL POST
Ok so I may be coming in here completely oblivious, please feel free to absolutely abolish me (kidding).
I've recently had a thought that I'm sure has crossed many minds before. As a bit of prior info, I'm an under-18 driver who is currently learning on my parent's car.
They're pretty open about finances and everything as I'm obsessed with this whole space, relentlessly invested in my own entrepreneurial ventures.
My question is as such: Given that it costs about $8000-$8500 a year to maintain the trusty 2006 lexus rx350 I'm driving, which does pretty well fuel-wise, why wouldn't you choose to instead go with an EV?
If you could save the ~$100/week fuel cost a.k.a $5200 ish a year by driving electric, even if I cant purchase a new/used EV outright, wouldn't financing it still be a better option as you'd pay less in interest than fuel, hence less of an expense as more of your money is going into equity in your car?
Just chucking numbers into a car loan repayment calculator with CBA, a variable loan for $30,000 (choosing to pay the extra $10000 with savings) to grab a $40,000 EV (very doable, especially considering id be looking to buy in several years time when the market will likely be more saturated and hence lower prices), payed off over 5 years with a 14% interest rate would leave you at $699 a month, roughly the same cost of running the current car I'm learning in.
Obviously I'm not factoring in insurance and registration etc with the EV, but as petrol is the main cost + you'd be unlikely to spend as much on services etc on a newer EV vs a car nearly 20 years old, I cant see why it isn't a better idea just to finance the EV as a) your monthly payments arent 100% expenses over the life of the loan, as you're gaining equity b) you'd save significantly on petrol in the long term and c) you'll also have a ~$30000 asset at the end of it all.
ANYWAYS sorry for the rant, please forgive And advice/comments much appreciated.
Edit: After lots of great advice I wanted to clarify two things:
Maintenance costs are = or less on EV
Ok so I may be coming in here completely oblivious, please feel free to absolutely abolish me (kidding).
I've recently had a thought that I'm sure has crossed many minds before. As a bit of prior info, I'm an under-18 driver who is currently learning on my parent's car.
They're pretty open about finances and everything as I'm obsessed with this whole space, relentlessly invested in my own entrepreneurial ventures.
My question is as such: Given that it costs about $8000-$8500 a year to maintain the trusty 2006 lexus rx350 I'm driving, which does pretty well fuel-wise, why wouldn't you choose to instead go with an EV?
If you could save the ~$100/week fuel cost a.k.a $5200 ish a year by driving electric, even if I cant purchase a new/used EV outright, wouldn't financing it still be a better option as you'd pay less in interest than fuel, hence less of an expense as more of your money is going into equity in your car?
Just chucking numbers into a car loan repayment calculator with CBA, a variable loan for $30,000 (choosing to pay the extra $10000 with savings) to grab a $40,000 EV (very doable, especially considering id be looking to buy in several years time when the market will likely be more saturated and hence lower prices), payed off over 5 years with a 14% interest rate would leave you at $699 a month, roughly the same cost of running the current car I'm learning in.
Obviously I'm not factoring in insurance and registration etc with the EV, but as petrol is the main cost + you'd be unlikely to spend as much on services etc on a newer EV vs a car nearly 20 years old, I cant see why it isn't a better idea just to finance the EV as a) your monthly payments arent 100% expenses over the life of the loan, as you're gaining equity b) you'd save significantly on petrol in the long term and c) you'll also have a ~$30000 asset at the end of it all.
ANYWAYS sorry for the rant, please forgive And advice/comments much appreciated.
Edit: After lots of great advice I wanted to clarify two things:
- Yes. There is an opportunity cost to investing my own money into a car that’s really a liability (don’t mind my ignorance there, when I said it was an asset I more-so meant that it’s worth something when I want to sell it vs the Lexus being worth very little)
- The way I’m justifying this is a situation when the numbers work out to where:
Maintenance costs are = or less on EV