Electric Cars: €2 per 100 km vs. €12 for Combustion

Electric Cars at €2 per 100 km vs. Combustion at €12: The Fine Print

The comparison circulates with an uncomfortable force: €2 per 100 km in electric versus €12 in combustion, according to the figure opening the debate. The gap is real. It's also only half the story. It omits contracted power, the need for a garage, and what authorities will do when fuel revenue dries up.

What Does It Really Cost to Drive 100 km in an Electric Car?

The headline calculation pits two figures against each other. On one side, about €12 per 100 km for a combustion engine. On the other, €2 for plugging in. On paper, there's no contest. But there's a fixed cost left out of the picture: €30 per month for connection and contracted power, as one participant points out, which is paid even if the car isn't moving. For those who drive few kilometers, those €30 weigh more than all the promised savings.

Profitability depends less on the engine and more on the home. Those with their own garage who charge at night play in a different league. Those living on the ninth floor do not: for them, the per-kilometer savings become theoretical. Public chargers with 22 kW, which according to one user charge a battery 25% in an hour, don't serve everyone either.

What Tax Awaits the Electric Car?

Suspicion runs through the entire conversation: the electric car is cheap now because it's a minority and it's convenient to sell it. When it becomes the majority, the party's over. The argument has a concrete anchor: the state collects between €20 billion and €30 billion annually in fuel taxes, according to a calculation circulating in the thread. If that base disappears, someone will have to make up the difference.

Draughts already exist. In the United Kingdom, starting April 2028, a payment per kilometer driven will be applied, controlled during technical inspections or through random checks, according to information cited in the debate. The circulating forecast is that the formula will spread. The question is no longer if the tax will arrive, but how long it will take to land.

Too Much Power: 450 Horsepower to Go for Bread

While some discuss the cost per kilometer, a participant recounts their test of a 450-horsepower electric SUV with all-wheel drive that does 0 to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds. Result: driver and passenger dizzy after two accelerations. For him, that power is outrageous, and another user maintains that 200 horsepower is already enough for daily use.

The escalation doesn't stop. In the same dealership, and according to the same account, a model with 1,100 horsepower and 2.9 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h appears, of which they could only see the exterior.

Oil Barrel at $109 and the Strait of Hormuz

At the heart of the matter is oil. The Brent barrel is trading around $109, according to messages shared in the thread, and estimates suggest that the closure of a key pipeline in Saudi Arabia would risk about 4 million barrels per day, while the blockade of Bab al-Mandab would threaten another 9 million. With that outlook, few expect the price per liter to drop.

The paradox is that, for some participants, the latest shocks have done more for electrification than years of subsidies and regulations. Every time that happens, the same question returns in the thread: how long will the price of electricity hold up.

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In the end, the analysis gets stuck right where it started. The cost per 100 km for electric is unbeatable if charged at home and amortized with intense use. For those who rent and don't have their own plug, the calculation flips. That gap remains unresolved.