Prius vs Ampera: cost wars

Toyota has thrown down the green gauntlet and declares that the new Prius Plug-In is more cost-effective than competitor extended range plug-in, the Vauxhall Ampera.

Once the £5,000 government grant for plug-ins is taken into account, the Prius costs £28,630 to the Ampera's £32,250 pricetag. Toyota is also trumpeting a 90-minute battery charging time compared to four hours for the Ampera, with electricity costs for the charging process estimated at 50p and £2.20 respectively.

Both cars use a wee bit of petrol - Toyota says the cost per mile for fuel plus electricity to come in at 3.9p for the Prius and 4.4p for the Ampera. The cost of the
Prius over three years is determined to be £36,272 and £38,130 for the Ampera.

These costings where calculated by independent car data specialist Kwikcarcost, which also estimated that the Prius is cheaper in terms of cost-per-mile than the Peugeot 508 Hybrid4 saloon as well as the Ampera, with the Prius at 60.45p, the 508 at 69.12p and the Ampera at 63.55p.

It's a dizzying array of data and we eagerly await Vauxhall and Peugeot's response to these figures. However, it does make one thing pretty clear - it is still relatively pricey to be green, even with the savings on running costs, tax and London congestion charge. But we try to be optimistic here at TotallyMotor and dare to dream of the day when there will be electrics and hybrids routinely buzzing around British roads for sub-£10,000 pricetags.


By Georgia Lewis

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