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Comment by drnick1 | Hacker News Reader

Electric cars aren't cheap, and electricity prices are very high in Europe.

Not true. No new car is cheap, and electricity is now cheaper than gas or diesel.

My parents just bought a new BYD Dolphin, and it cost 3 EUR to go 150 km, whereas my diesel car costs 15 EUR for the same route.

I don't know how people can say electric cars aren't cheaper. It's a 5x difference!

I’m sure your specific circumstances apply to everyone else equally

Oh you're right, these cars and this fuel pump are made exclusively for me.

The initial car is more expensive. You'll typically make it up, but it depends on how much you drive.

And you have to pay interest on larger car loan.

But in practice, yes, when charging at home EVs are dirty cheap to charge.

The total cost of ownership (toc) for an EV is much lower. But you are paying it all upfront.

I don't know about that, this car cost 23k EUR which is cheaper than a VW Polo, which is roughly in the same category.

That is cheap..

But there is are lots of people buying a used car for 10k

Regardless, I do a agree, EV is absolutely the way to go.

Electric cars are mechanically simpler.

Yeah, if you're buying a new car, electric makes sense if at all possible. But a lot of people are not buying new cars, because new cars are not cheap. There's a saying that a new car loses half of its value the moment it's driven away from the dealership.

But I agree, operational costs of an EV can be much lower, if you can charge at home rates.

We're looking for a new car. I'd love to go electrical, but there are a few problems:

1) I have no garage and no parking space next to my home. I can't charge it.

2) We have no trustworthy garage for repairs. It turns out the garage regulations require a separate space for electrical forcsafety, and nobody has room to expand.

Apart from that, electricity in Belgium is expensive. I did the math on swapping our gas heater for a heat pump, but I'd pay more for energy even of the amount of watts is so much lower.

BYD EVs are affordable. Electricity will get cheaper with more renewables, oil will not.

Define affordable. A €40k Seal is anything but affordable. Eastern Europe (and I don't put Slovenia in this case here, they are much closer to Western Europe in every sense) will not mass change to EVs suddenly when everyone is shopping for 10 years old diesels from Western Europe for maximum €10k

> Define affordable.

Cheaper than the total cost of ownership of a combustion vehicle at $150-$200/barrel for prolonged periods of time.

Are We Approaching an Unprecedented Energy Crisis? - https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/dispatch-energy/iran-war-... - March 26th, 2026

France confirms oil crisis, says 30-40 percent of Gulf energy infrastructure destroyed - https://www.france24.com/en/france-confirms-oil-crisis-says-... - March 25th, 2026

Even the best-case scenario for energy markets is disastrous - https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/03/22/e... | https://archive.today/5OhRI - March 22nd, 2026

New cars have questionable affordability for most people. Particularly when you factor in dubious design choices and expensive marketing. Cars and driving are expensive. If that was a barrier there wouldn't be many people on the road.

Also, the Electric polo is supposed to be released at around 25k Euros. Given the lower running costs that seems like a good deal relative to legacy designs. For all those people will to spend 40k on a car you could put the money into solar panels instead.

If you think the Seal isn't affordable then don't buy one.

You can buy a brand new Dacia Spring for only £12,240. Personally I don't think it's a great car but it's certainly doesn't cost 40K.

If it were my money I'd spend a bit more on either a used Jag ePace or a Renault 5 but some people prefer new cars I guess.

Thanks for the nerd snipe! I just found the Citroen e-C3, for a couple thousand more than the Spring. Both look fine. They should just be station wagons, but this is our timeline.

> Electricity will get cheaper with more renewables

Citation?

https://www.google.com/search?q=renewables+reduce+wholesale+...

https://www.bbvaresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2604... (slides 7, 9, and 10 specifically)

Yeah a lot of noise in there. Zooming in on the COVID price spike and then recovery trying to suggest it was renewables - nice try.

Fact is if you zoom out 20 years Spain's prices have trended up. Your link just proves my point that while there has been an increase in the blend, it hasn't reduced prices.

You’re ignoring data and facts, that’s a choice of course.

https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/decoupled-how-spain...

> Decoupled: how Spain cut the link between gas and power prices using renewables

> Spain has some of the lowest wholesale electricity prices in Europe, largely owing to the country’s strong solar and wind growth which reduced the influence of expensive coal and gas power on the electricity market.

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