Is it worth buying electric? What’s about the range of the electric car? And where can I charge it? These are some of the questions that people are still asking themselves when they consider buying an electric vehicle.

“People are not completely aware about the benefits of having an electric car nowadays. Consequently, they often find it difficult to buy one due to obstacles that already don’t exist”, said Miguel Ãngelo Raimundo, Peugeot Sales Manager in the Algarve, at the first exhibition of the new Peugeot 508 PSE in the Algarve, at the MSCAR-PEUGEOT exhibition hall, Portimão.

Miguel Ãngelo Raimundo, who has been following the evolution of electric cars from the beginning, took the time to clarify some of the main doubts people still have about electric mobility.

In addition to being ecologically more sustainable, electric cars convey a feeling of driving pleasure that “has nothing to do with driving a diesel car because you hear nothing, feel nothing, it is easy to drive and you also have the possibility to enter in places where the use of traditional cars is already forbidden”.

Is it worth buying electric?

First of all, when we buy something, we all want to make the best choice and save money, if possible. Are we saving money if we buy a new electric car? Well, in fact, in addition to not having to pay for fuel, you can also have tax benefits, especially companies, either for work cars or personal/work vehicles.

Regarding electricity, some of the electricity costs in charging may be deducted. “For example if your car is charged at a company that deducts the costs they have with electricity, you will have a great benefit because you will not pay the kilowatt-hour that we used to pay. But even without deductions, if we are going to compare a car powered by 100 percent electricity, with a combustion one, we will always talk about a difference of one-fifth or one-quarter of the normal costs”

But it doesn’t stop there, in tax matters the discounts continue. In the “autonomous tax” which is normally linked to companies, hybrid cars have a much lower fee than a diesel or gasoline car and an electric car is totally exempt of this tax, as it is exempt of ISV and IUC (a tax that car’s owners must pay each year).

In addition, people can always apply for state support funds for the purchase of these cars, when such support is made available. Stay tuned!

Electric cars range

Have you ever been stuck because you have run out of fuel? It is not a pleasant feeling at all. Thinking about the car’s charging ranges, there are many people who are still afraid to buy an electric car, especially for long journeys, but is this really a problem?

Perhaps not. “I have clients who drive with Peugeots 208 from Faro to Lisbon. The biggest enemy of an electric car is a highway, if we drive along the national road, the range will be greater. All in all, if you want to go with an electric car on the highway, there’s no problem at all, you can stop in a highway filling station and with a card for electric vehicles, (which is linked to your bank account), and charge the car. If the car is 100 percent discharged, it charges 80 percent of the charge again in 30 minutes. It’s the time of a coffee break”, he said.

“Another solution that we have at Peugeot, for those who only have an electric car and want to go for a long journey without stopping to charge, we have promotional tables for clients, where they can rent a thermal car for special occasions, if you want to go from Portimão to Porto, contact us through the App, book a car, pick it up and rent a combustion car for two or three days”.

While this rental option is also great, it may not even be necessary. In fact, charging points are widely distributed in Portugal, even in the most remote areas where we didn’t even think we would find a charging point. Visit the App “Miio” and find out for yourself.

Can I charge my car at home?

“Peugeot has a consulting service. If you want to buy an electric car and want to charge the vehicle at your home, and would like to know how it works, we have experts that will come to your home and give you the best advice. The best solution for you and your car, such as if you need to make some arrangements at home and what the fastest charging solutions are”, said Miguel Ângelo Raimundo.

How I’m going to charge the car if I live in an apartment?

This is not a problem anymore. Since 2019 “a decree law has been approved to force condominiums to give permission for electric car users to have a charging point. Today, if a person lives in an apartment and wants to charge the car in the garage, they are free to do so”, told The Portugal News.

Wear and tear

Another advantage is that a electric car does not wear out. “Without going into deeper technical details, an electric car doesn’t need maintenance because magnetism is something that doesn’t wear out, there is no friction, the motor works with magnetic coils that create energy, and we can have magnets working indefinitely without wear”.

Furthermore, “we give an eight years warranty (or 160,000 km) to the batteries and to the motor. Most often customers sell their cars even before the warranty is over, in other words, they sell them with a guarantee”.
The future of electric vehicles

In fact, the future is here. With rising fuel prices, certain bans on entering cities with thermal cars and the associated discounts/savings that users can get, there is less and less reason to avoid electric mobility.

Author

Paula Martins is a fully qualified journalist, who finds writing a means of self-expression. She studied Journalism and Communication at University of Coimbra and recently Law in the Algarve. Press card: 8252

Paula Martins