Lichen, Carrots, or Electric?

At New AutoMotive we are often approached by people who are thinking of making the switch to an electric vehicle (EVs), but need help to figure out if it’s worth their while. Electric cars cost a bit more to buy, but they’re cheaper to run, and it can be hard to work out whether the relevant costs and savings add up. For most people, our cost saving calculator provides a simple and easy way to calculate how much can be saved on fuel and road tax.

However, sometimes there are unique cases which are a bit more complicated. 

We were recently approached by a driver who does a simply incredible number of miles every year. As a general rule of thumb, if you drive a lot of miles, an electric car should save you money.

But this driver was different.

With no MOT history, we had to rely on an estimate of his miles. At 100,000,000 miles per year, it was vastly higher than anyone else we had come across. So, what are his options, and how much would it cost?

In a typical petrol or diesel car…

This customer would be paying shed loads driving their annual mileage in a petrol or diesel car. This driver would be particularly troubled at rising petrol and diesel prices; he’d be facing an annual fuel bill of around £15,000,000. 

In an electric car… 

In a typical EV, such as a Renault Zoe or Nissan Leaf, he would be looking at paying around £8,000,000 in electricity - assuming the elves have switched him onto an EV tariff. That’s quite a bit more than most EV drivers pay (contrary to what you might hear!). 

In their current vehicle…

This driver’s current vehicle is powered by a unique and rare fuel type: lichen and carrots. Lichen is free, but carrots cost about 50p/kg. We estimate that this driver consumes 2.3 billion carrots per year to do his mileage (1 per house visited). That’s a fuel economy of 23 miles per carrot. At roughly 2p per carrot, Santa’s current running costs are very low indeed - far lower than the EV or petrol solution. 

The sums are clear: Santa’s current solution is the best for him. And of course, this is also a net zero solution, since any, er, tailpipe emissions from his reindeer are offset by the next crop of carrots and lichen. But if he were thinking of upgrading and couldn’t obtain a new sleigh and reindeer team, then he should be getting in an EV.

On behalf of the team at New AutoMotive, I would like to wish you all a merry christmas and a happy new year.