A recent study by the Italian consumer association has established that the cost to owners of running a full electric car exceeds the cost of running a diesel car. This is based on current energy costs.

It should be noted that the Italian Government has reduced the excise on fuel (which in turn reduces VAT) in order to reduce the inflationary effect of high fuel and transport costs.

What is not taken into consideration is the fact that there is no excise on the supply of electricity for cars so other than currently being more expensive to run than a similar diesel car they are also subsidised by the tax payers.

I also remember the moves to diesel were actively promoted some years back to reduce the emission of CO2. Now that most of the pollution issues have been reduced by catalytic converters, fine particle filters, Ablue, etc I think that diesel is still a viable option for a car that is often used for longer distances, even with today's pressure to reduce the generation of greenhouse gases. One needs to keep in mind that the majority of electricity is still produced thermally.

Peter

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