We have quite a few EV options in 2w and people keep arguing that they are expensive. But are they really?
Here at TCIN we break down the economics of owning and operating an ICE 2w vs an EV 2w. Obviously not an exact science, since we are using data from multiple sources. But this should give you a good idea.
For the comparison we will be taking Pulsar 180, Pulsar 150, Splendor+, Activa 5G, Revolt RV400 & Ather 450.
We will be giving ICE some leniency while making some approximations for EVs.
We talked to Bajaj and hero dealers in mumbai for gathering the requisite data.
Lets take a look at our very unscientific study
On road price for pulsar include RTO & first year service. First year service will charge you for consumables but still while adding we didn't take into account first year service. We don’t know if insurance on Pulsars include own damage or not, but seems unlikely beyond the first year. So your TCO will be a bit high.
Also on road price for splendor includes RTO, first year service, accessories & 1 yr insurance.
For fuel economy of ICE 2w we are being a bit generous and for EV we have considered bit less than real world range. Since Ather can easily do 85 km in city and revolt has a 125 km range in city, we have considered only 75 & 100 km respectively.
Also for EVs we included Road Tax , which is not applicable in many states. Ather is currently sold in states with no road tax, yet we have still included road tax at 8%. With all states coming out with EV policies, Road tax will hopefully will be nil in all states. So if you are in state with no road tax, your saving on Revolt & Ather increases by nearly 8.5 to 10k.
On road price of revolt is taking MY Revolt Plan at 3999/month for 37 months & 11000 for RTO & helmet and stuff. We don’t have any data on service and insurance of revolt after first 3 years, so we assumed combination of both 3k a year (both combined written in maintenance). Service and maintenance are included in MRP for first 3 years.
We similarly were not able to get good data on ather insurance, but the amount we are taking for ather insurance includes 3rd party damage and Own damage.
We also chose most expensive Ather subscription- Ather One which is 8400/year. Written in maintenance column. you get whatever you charge reimbursed under it. , sometimes even more. So your fuel cost will be 0.
Some of you might differ on service cost, but we have taken the average approximate value .. Even with a slight change we don’t expect much to change in terms of TCO.
Some of you may point out having taken insurance cost same for all years, yes we know that they decrease, but we have taken constant for all. So whatever difference it would make, it will be on all models.
So what we infer from this table:-
In 3 years TCO of Revolt is much lower than Pulsar 180 & 150, while nearly 20k more than splendor +. Need to consider that revolt and splendor are much different looking and category bikes but still EV seems to be winning.
In 6 year, you nearly save 1.5L on choosing revolt over Pulsar 180 & 1L over pulsar 150.
In 6 year you save nearly 30k on choosing revolt over splendor+.
In 3 years you save nearly 25k on choosing Ather over Activa.
In 6 year you save nearly 1L on choosing Ather over Activa.
We can clearly see that TCO of EVs are nearing or sometimes lower than ICE 2w in just 3 years. And after that you are saving huge money no matter which ICE.
When people say that EVs are expensive, they just see buying price. But do they think about how much they spend on fuel! Even I was surprised when we were calculating this. Its ridiculously high. It makes no sense to own ICE anymore.
All this is without considering all other positives in Ather, like OTA updates, connected vehicle features, the app, ride statistics, vehicle tracking on the app & some similar features on revolt too. Which you won't find on ICE equivalents.
More you drive a EV, more you save. More you drive a ICE, more you spend.
Get a EV, if you are planning to get new 2w.
Our friends at PlugInIndia have list of Electric Bikes and Electric Scooters.
All this was just to give you a idea, we know it's not perfect.
By:- Nikhil Chaudhary & Atharva Karnik
Team Tesla Club India
Building a Community for Future