The German Automobile Club known as ADAC conducted a study in February 2020 comparing the entry-level Tesla Model 3 SR+ with its ICEV counterparts
They chose six vehicles from three well-known brands covering both Petrol and Diesel engines
Their key metric was the total cost of ownership as determined by their standardized calculation of Cost per Kilometre
Their standard reference base is ownership for 5 years with usage of 15,000 kilometres per year
This analysis takes into account the purchase cost of the vehicle and its Depreciation over time, plus the fixed costs like insurance and taxes, the servicing and maintenance costs, and the costs of actually operating the vehicles with fuel, oil, and AdBlue additives for Diesels
It seems that the most valuable place for aspiring electric automakers to be during the last 24 hours was on Saturday Night Live SNL
How can we visualize their marketing costs and benefits ?
A significant number of automakers paid a lot of money to be associated with the show this Saturday night, and got small amounts of U.S. air time in the shadow of the electric vehicle Market Leader, plus a little bit of social media reaction
High Cost, Low Impact
Halo Effect
One automaker paid nothing, got vastly more air time, and multiplied their direct exposure to tens of millions of people worldwide by expanding their reach at no cost through Twitter and YouTube
That and the 3,000 euros (net) manufacturer's contribution to the electric car premium put the price into perspective somewhat, but the test car still remains an expensive car in its class
This does not take into account that the software is not yet ready in important parts and has considerable bugs - the vehicle should not really be sold in this form yet
This gives customers little pleasure, but all the more frustration due to the dropouts and malfunctions
The German automobile club ADAC publishes information on vehicles sold in its market, including Cost of Ownership analysis like the one summarised here for VW Golf
The starting points are List Price, Time Horizon, and Annual Mileage
The results are provided in the form of monthly costs in four categories and then converted to Euro cents per km as shown here for the 17 different versions of the VW ID.3
ADAC METHODOLOGY
Calculation basis for the standardized car cost calculation
1. HOLDING PERIOD
- 24 to 60 months with a standard of 60 months
2. MILEAGE
- 5,000 to 60,000 km per year with a standard of 15,000 km per year and a maximum cumulative total of of 160,000 km
ADAC ANALYSIS SHOWS BEVs ARE NOW BEATING ICEVs ON CUSTOMER COST
- VW ID.3 and Hyundai Ioniq show the clear advantages
- Tesla Model 3 NOT included in the analysis
ADAC COMMENTARY :
The total cost calculation uses a five-year holding period and 15,000 km/year
The VW ID.3 clearly beats comparably powered and equipped VW Golf petrol and diesel models when taking into account the electric purchase subsidy
The reasons for this are the lower depreciation in absolute terms, the lower fixed costs with no vehicle tax, and above all the significantly better insurance type classifications of the ID.3