Financial viability of electric cars for cab business

While we all look at the running cost of an EV, we fail to look at progressive costs that we might occur compared to an ICE vehicle.

BHPian blackwasp recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

While we all look at the running cost of an EV, we fail to look at progressive costs that we might occur compared to an ICE vehicle.

We have an Ather at home. 2022 model done around 11k km. Very happy with it. But the other day went to check out the higher range Ather, but was offered only 50k as resale. Meanwhile we sold my wife’s 2018 Activa for 40k!

With alternative fuels like CNG and hybrid tech I feel jumping on the EV bandwagon is crazy.

My fleet cars do about 1-1.25L km per year. But despite that, I’m unable to financially justify an EV.

For the common man or those looking at the mass market EV segment, the cost proposition is what is preventing adoption of EVs as compared to hybrids or Cng vehicles.

IMHO, India will see short term rise in EV adoption but in about 5-8 years will see a decline as hybrids and CNG adoption increases rapidly.

Assumptions:

1. EV will do one overnight charging + 1 DC fast charging

2. Maintenance cost is assumed including tyres, annual insurance, annual tax, fitness, etc.

3. CNG Dzire car is considered

I'm not even assuming my use case, wherein my cars are doing 500-600 km trips per day. This is almost impossible to do in the time allotted to us in any EV let alone an Xpress T. Further, for 24X7 operations, will either need to rely on fast charging or keep 2 cars (12 hour shifts + slow charging times). This will skew up the numbers even more.

Lastly, there's the point of resale value. I don't expect anything in resale for a 5L km done EV, but for a CNG car, I might get Rs. 1-1.5L.

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