22 Nov 18
News

When does an electric vehicle payoff?

In Brazil, if you drive at least 180-200km a day, it should be worth buying an electric vehicle (EV), according to Adelberto Maluf who is director of marketing, sustainability and new business in Latin America for Chinese automaker BYD.

“In terms of TCO, an EV is better than an internal combustion engine (ICE) in several comparisons. Here in Brazil, what is really lacking to make EV’s really viable is better tax breaks,” Maluf told Global Fleet.

When considering cars, light commercial vehicles (LCV), and buses, BYD is the best-selling EV and plug-in EV manufacturer in the world. Other contenders are China’s BAIC and California-based Tesla.

The average price for gasoline in Brazil is around 4.60 reais (US$1.22) per liter. However, ethanol (70% of gasoline efficiency) costs about 2.76 reais/l.

Authored by: Daniel Bland