Electric Cars vs ICE Vehicles - Which is the Way to Go?

The more we are familiar with something, the more we trust it. We like visiting places we’ve already been to as we know it’s nice there. We like going to familiar stores and buying fresh bread from familiar bakeries. That’s why it is sometimes hard to give up on the idea of driving the old, good, and so familiar ICE vehicle (Internal Combustion Engine) and considering getting yourself an electric car. 

Now you have the chance to take a close look at both and make your own conclusion about what vehicle is perfect for you. 

Unless you plan to buy one car for commuting, another for visiting your parents on weekends, and a third for travelling abroad, you probably want a vehicle that can handle all your trips in terms of distance. When driving around the city with plenty of EV charging stations and petrol stations, you don’t consider it an issue. But as soon as you start planning an adventurous trip, with the roads running through forests and fields, you wonder: how far can you go on one refill? And which one will bring you further: an electric or fuel-powered vehicle?

The range of an ICE vehicle depends on three factors:

• type of engine

• tank volume

• weight

Let us show you a couple of examples. 

Electric cars are developing fast, meaning that their range is constantly rising. For instance, in 2011 you were lucky to have the Nissan Leaf with a range of about 125 km; in 2015, you could already buy the Kia Soul, drive up to 235 km and feel like you're ahead of the curve. 

As of today, the Tesla Model S boasts a range of about 600 km, while BMW i4 M50 will run for about 520 km on one charge. Electric car manufacturers seem to keep saying "the sky is the limit" and plan to increase the average battery range of electric vehicles to 784 kilometres by 2025. 

Electric vehicles are relatively new. Well, definitely newer than gas-powered cars. And that’s what often makes us think that there is not enough infrastructure for them yet. Agree? 

In fact, your chances of running out of power when driving are low regardless of what kind of vehicle you're driving. For instance, Germany houses around 59,000 regular AC charging points, Austria has more than 15,000, and Italy - above 32,000 (as of October, 2022).

As they say, a picture is worth 1000 words. So we invite you to look at Europe's EV charging stations map. 

Meanwhile, Germany houses around 14,500 petrol stations as of November 2021. 

The Auto Bild published the average distance between EV charging stations in different European cities as of the beginning of 2022. These numbers indicate how often, on average, you can find a charging station for your electric vehicle travelling around in different cities:

• Munich - 830 m
• Reykjavík - 550 m
• Oslo - 610 m

But what if you can have such a station… in your car? 

With electric vehicles it’s possible. 

A mobile wallbox, such as the go-e Charger Gemini flex, is easy to take with you on your travels. You can use it to charge at any CEE socket or, with a suitable go-e adapter, at any available 220 V socket or camping socket. The go-e Charger Gemini flex is lightweight and as small as a shoebox. So as long as you have room for a pair of trainers, there's room for your own personal charging station.

After looking at these nice numbers, you might already think that electric cars are the best thing since sliced bread. But is it really so? 

Electric cars are not cheap, but their maintenance costs are certainly much lower. 

Let’s talk numbers. 

Renault Twizy costs around €11.500 - one of the cheapest EVs (as of October 2022). If budget allows, the Tesla Model 3 for €56.000 can be a great option (as of October 2022). Generally, electric vehicle prices vary between 30 and 70 thousand euros. 

What about ICE vehicles? Let’s check the prices for them.

The new Volkswagen T-Cross Life will cost you from €25.000, while the Alfa Romeo Giulia is offered for €52.000 (Stand: 16.11.2022).

What are the financial benefits for EV owners? 
Sooner or later, you’ll have to change the tires and replace some parts of the vehicle. How expensive is that? Fleet Assist, an independent company specialising in supply chain management for the fleet industry, calculated that the average cost of servicing an electric car is approximately 22% less than an equivalent ICE car (as of August 2022). 

Electricity prices fluctuate like sea waves in a storm. But let’s stop the time for a moment and see how big the difference is between the driving costs of an EV and an ICE vehicle.

An electric car consumes an average of 16.5 kWh per 100 km. The cost per kWh in our scenario is 0.37 €. In comparison, a combustion car consumes an average of 7.4 litres per 100 km. The cost per litre is currently 1.90€. 

Let's assume you drive 200 km per week. With an electric car, this costs you about €12.21. The same 200 km with a combustion engine will cost you about 28.1 €. Almost 3 times as much!

There is another trick to charge your electric car at a low price. Charge your electric car between 11pm and 6am. You don't have to interrupt your movie night when you use the go-e Charger. Set the start and end times of the charging process for weekdays and weekends in the app and relax; the wallbox will follow the entries.

By the way, the price per kWh is slightly higher if you charge your vehicle at a public charging station (as of October 2022). 

• 48 cents/kWh for Level 2 charging with AC up to 22 kW 

• 53 cents/kWh for fast charging with direct current.

Whether your electric car is white, black, or blue, it is still “green”. Mystery :) 

Electric vehicles earned the green title due to their climate-friendliness. Naturally, they are not made of air and water, and their lithium batteries do cause pollution to a certain extent. But honestly, it’s not as bad as you might think. 

The US Environmental Protection Agency recently came up with estimates about the amount of Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) produced by an electric vehicle compared to a gasoline car. 

Since these numbers were collected in the US, they might be different for Europe. The thing is, European countries are switching to “green” electricity, which means significantly lower emissions for electric cars. 

What can we see here:

Battery (dark blue)

18% of all the pollution caused by electric vehicles is due to the battery inside them. Naturally, ICE vehicles do not have a battery. Accordingly, no pollution is caused. 

Feedstock & Fuel (orange)

Charging your electric vehicle using solar energy will avoid any toxic emissions at that point, while using the grid for charging leads to some CO2 emissions. Currently, more and more people in Europe and all over the globe are using solar panels for charging their electric vehicles.
In fact, whatever form of renewable energy you use, it’s highly beneficial for you and the environment. 

Other Manufacturing & End of Life (light blue)

When it comes to extracting and manufacturing materials and assembly of the vehicle itself, the two types of cars do not differ much in the pollution level. 

Vehicle In-Use (light orange)

Here we come to the biggest distinction. As you see, there is no yellow in the electric car bar. This is because they do not produce any emissions when in use. You don't hurt the environment, no matter how far and fast you drive. 

You may say that electricity generation is not completely emission free. And this is true. However, many individual users and large companies today are switching to charging with "green" electricity. In this case, charging is indeed 100% free from the production of toxic emissions. 

If you compare the amount of GHG emissions, you see that gas-powered vehicles cause more than twice as much CO2 as electric cars. Quite a difference!

Time to face it - the world is shifting to electric. Countries offer subsidies, reduce taxes and build more and more charging stations for those who decide to go e. 

EV manufacturers also don’t waste time and come up with new models. While the first electric Audi vehicle (e-tron) was presented in 2019, there are supposed to be more than 20 all-electric models by 2025.

The numbers are pretty impressive. Electric vehicle sales more than doubled in China, continued to increase in Europe, and picked up in the US in 2021. According to forecasts, the global market for electric cars will grow in the 2-digit percentage range in the coming years.

Meanwhile, the phase-out of fossil fuel vehicles is coming. From 2035, only zero-emission vehicles are allowed to be newly registered in the EU. And if you’re not driving a Renault ZOE or Tesla Model S yet, you might consider it as your next car.