Electric Scooter vs Petrol Scooter : Huge Money Savings

By Kamlesh & Atul

There is a lot of misinformation in the mainstream media about the cost of electric vehicles. In the blog/video, we bust this myth and we show how petrol scooters cost same as electric scooters and you always save money when it comes to total cost of ownership when using an EV.

Video : ​Electric Scooter vs Petrol Scooter : Money Savings

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Sticker Price

Consider the ex-showroom price of the following electric scooters

• Price of PURE EV eTrance Neo electric scooter is Rs 75,999 
• Price of PURE EV ePluto 7G is Rs 83,999
• Ampere Magnus Pro Electric Scooter has price of Rs 73,999 
• Bajaj Chetak has price of Rs 1,22,000
• Ather 450 Plus has price of Rs 1,42,731
  
  

Now let’s look at price of some popular petrol scooters, we will consider Disc brake based scooters 

• The ExShowroom price of this Suzuki Access BS6 Disc Brake is Rs 75,007
• TVS Jupiter ZX Disc costs Rs 72,706
• Activa 125 DC costs Rs 77,875
• Vespa VXL costs a whopping Rs 1,11,071

Note that these petrol scooter variants are not top end variants. These are mid range. There are more expensive variants in the petrol scooter world.

You guys must be shocked at the prices of petrol scooters. With the increased costs of BS6 engines, the rates of petrol scooters has gone up. There is a huge misconception in the media and with people who say that electric vehicles are expensive compared to petrol vehicles. But this is no longer the case in our electric scooter world. 

This is mostly due to the hard work done by the Indian EV Industry as more and more localization is happening. The electric scooter prices have almost reached price parity with petrol scooters and will soon be cheaper, once battery cells are mass manufactured in India. 

PURE EV ePluto 7G Electric Scooter

Ampere Magnus Pro Electric Scooter

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Fuel Expenses

The main reason electric scooters are so compelling is because of their extremely low costs of operating it.

• The per km cost of running an electric scooter like the PURE EV eTrance NEO is only Rs 0.25 per km. Cost of electricity is fairly cheap at Rs 10 per unit in the commercial location of cities and Rs 3 - 4 small towns and villages. 
• The per km cost of running this petrol scooter is Rs 2.5 per km (40 kmpl, Rs 100 per liter)

So if you ride 40,000 km in 4 years (10,000 km per year), your total fuel savings when u use an electric scooter is Rs 90,000
Also understand petrol costs vary due to macroeconomic conditions. Today the cost of petrol is Rs 100 per liter. Tomorrow, it can go beyond Rs 120. Electricity rates have been fairly stable over many decades so your electric scooter will always have low costs of operation.

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Maintanance Expenses

Let’s talk about maintenance costs associated with this petrol scooter for a period of 5 years. 

• Petrol scooters have a lot of complex parts and an engine that needs oiling. Most petrol scooters have maintenance costs of Rs 6000 per annum, which results in Rs 30,000 for 5 year period. 
• Remember, petrol scooters also have a lot of parts - engine, transmission, gearbox, convertors, filters, engine parts etc. These can go wrong and will lead to replacement or repairs. Let’s set aside part repair/replacement costs of Rs 10,000 over a 5 year period.

So total maintenance cost for your petrol scooter could be Rs 40,000 for period of 5 years

Let’s talk about maintenance costs associated with this electric scooter for a period of 5 years. Electric scooters have far less moving parts compared to petrol scooters. So you will have to make less trips to the service station for the regular mechanical maintenance and engine oil

• Most electric scooters like the PURE EV eTrance NEO comes with 3 years/40,000 km battery warranty, so there would be no battery related maintenance for 3 years. Do understand this battery is made by PURE EV themselves who sell the electric scooters. So any battery pack related service will have to be done with your PURE EV dealer. For other manufacturers, check with dealers. 
• After the warranty period, what maintenance costs can you expect, with respect to the battery in 4th and 5th year?
  • Internally battery pack might be damaged due to a physical damage
  • BMS board might need replacing or repairs
  • Lithium cells can go off balance. Some cells due to age might have less voltage when fully charged. So these cells will need cell boosting or in worse cases cell replacement. For the 4th and 5th year, lets keep an amount of Rs 5000 as battery pack maintenance
• Do understand Lithium battery packs are very reliable. And many of you might not even have these issues. 

Battery Pack Cell Status Checks
Every PURE EV dealer is equipped with a unique ‘BaTRics Faraday’ system - which is an Artificial Intelligence-driven hardware that resolves battery defects through an external healing process. PURE EV has developed AI-driven hardware which carries out the diagnosis and resolution of defects in the battery through an externally-connected device to the battery. It is recommended to get your battery checked with this system once in 3 months. We have not seen other electric scooter manufacturers have any sort of battery check systems offered to their dealers.

‘BaTRics Faraday’ system at PURE EV dealer

‘BaTRics Faraday’ system at PURE EV dealer

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TCO Costs
Regarding maintenance and repair of other components in an electric scooter. Electronic parts like controller, Motor, DC-DC converter, charger, wiring harness etc might get faulty and might need replacement or repairs. So let’s set aside Rs 15,000 for part replacements. Regular annual service would cost Rs 5000 (Rs 1000 per year). So total maintenance cost for your electric scooter could be around Rs 25,000.
Regarding battery replacement, we feel that you wont need to replace your battery pack in 5 years. But if you feel there is degradation and you need more range after 4+ years, then you can buy a new battery. We estimate a 2.5 or 3 kWh battery pack of PURE EV to cost Rs 25,000 to 30,000 in 4 years time as they are manufacturing the battery in-house.

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Final Words
So are you surprised?
Don't fall for the false propaganda. EV's are affordable and an electric scooter will save you money. Moreover you will enjoy a quiet and pollution free ride. Get one now!

Further Reading
​Electric Scooter vs Petrol Scooter : Huge benefits for India