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It has never been trickier to analyse the costs and benefits of buying a new car, especially because of the claims about electric and hybrids cars saving you money.

But will they in the long run? It’s worth comparing costs for equivalent petrol or diesel cars. List them, and include the loss in value of your car each year and calculate the annual cost of ownership. The things you need to consider include:

Obsolescence: Electric and hybrid cars are new to the market. They will improve. For example, electric cars in the future are likely to have a longer range than at present. There’s a similar problem with petrol cars. With the trend towards electric cars one might expect less demand for second-hand petrol cars in the future. Depreciation of petrol cars might be rapid. Will the hybrid be superseded by the fully electric car? If you think yes, how long might it be till this happens? Deciding on the cost of ownership has never been trickier.

Road user charges: There are no road user charges on hybrid and electric cars at present. However, it’s a reasonable bet the Government will eventually introduce them once there are plenty of electric cars on the road.

If you have a fleet you will constantly need to update your decisions on what to purchase.