Should you purchase an electric car?
Man, electric vehicles are the rage. Businesses and governments are investing heavily in them so that you can get one. The public sector is moving quickly to make announcements, and news outlets are covering every story. The question of whether to purchase an electric vehicle is raised. I advise against it right now. “Wow, Atishay, are you sure we shouldn’t purchase an EV?” Well, no, you shouldn’t as of right now. If you have extra money to spend, go ahead, but if buy a car in only ten years, wait off. You wouldn’t want to entirely screw this up. I fully support purchasing an electric car because doing so tends to be more cost-effective, is better for the environment, and the list goes on.
Why do I say this, then?
The straightforward response is that it is too soon and that a wait-and-see approach is applicable. I myself will defer purchasing an electric car and will likely continue to use it as a secondary car for a very long time rather than using it as my primary vehicle. There are several factors to consider, as was previously said. For example, imagine purchasing an electric car today, but five years later discovering that the cost of replacing the battery is higher than the overall cost of fuel of an ICE car for 5 years. Currently, a new battery for an electric vehicle costs between 20,000 and 25,000 per Kwh. Therefore, if you do not adhere to the battery’s warranty requirements, you may end up spending around at least 8 Lakhs to buy a new battery, which is almost as much as a decent ICE car, and you may come to regret your decision to purchase an electric vehicle. This will continue to be a major concern unless and until the price of the battery system decreases for each Kwh in India. The next issue is my reluctance to use an electric vehicle as my primary mode of transportation. Because there aren’t many charging stations in and around the city, I can’t drive the vehicle past a certain range without growing increasingly concerned that my range will run out. In order to ensure that we do not run out of electrical power anywhere and customers have confidence that there will be recharge assistance available wherever it is needed, a sturdy charging infrastructure should be carefully installed within the city and around it.
There is no denying that things are moving quickly, but since much of the progress is concentrated in a small number of places, convincing a middle-class Indian to purchase an electric car would require a lot more work. The expense of the batteries and range anxiety are challenges right now.
