Petrol stations lose 123,000 customers to electric cars

Electric cars are emptying petrol stations: 123,000 customers fewer

With August data now complete, Spain's petrol stations have lost 123,000 customers over twelve months. Over the same period, electric car registrations reached 125,562 units. The correlation between the two series is tempting; the causality, considerably less so.

Public charging is not as cheap as it seemed

Charging away from home costs between €0.30 and €0.79 per kWh, depending on the type of charger. On alternating current (AC, 7 to 22 kW), driving 100 kilometres costs between €4.50 and €7.50. On fast or ultra-fast charging (DC, above 50 kW), the bill shoots up to €12 per 100 kilometres.

Compare that with a Toyota LPG hybrid: it uses about 4 litres per 100 kilometres. At one euro a litre, that is €4. In traffic jams or with a heavy right foot, consumption stays under 5 litres. The liquefied gas car matches or beats the publicly charged electric one. And as a bonus, it lets you go to the beach and back without making eight stops.

Poverty or ecology?

It is not all about switching engines. Fuel at two euros a litre, inflation and a household budget that is cutting back explain part of the exodus. Someone who used to fill the tank for €110 does not need an ecological sermon: they need the shopping basket not to swallow their money. Young people without a car are not choosing technology; they are simply not choosing.

The question stalls where it always has: at charger estimulante ilegal, at the price per kWh, and at the doubt over whether customers are fleeing petrol or the bill. How much of this decline is irreversible depends on that answer.