Abstract
Eliminating environmental and air pollution is one of the European Union’s priority actions in the field of transport. Poland, as a member of the European Community, is also actively involved in these activities. The flagship project, the implementation of which is expected to bring tangible effects in this respect, is the “Sustainable Transport Development Strategy until 2030”. It states that in 2030 there should be 600,000 BEVs (battery electric vehicles) on Polish roads. At present, the share of such vehicles in the automotive market in Poland is small, which is a result of a number of barriers. One of them, very important considering the preferences of Poles, is the cost of buying such a car, which is currently at least 40% higher than its counterpart with a combustion engine. Meanwhile, popularizers of electric cars believe that the cost of buying such a vehicle is offset by the subsequent costs associated with its operation. Hence, this paper determines and then compares the total purchase and operating costs of cars of the same make, same model, differing in the source of propulsion, to category M1. Cars in this category represent the largest share of the automotive market in Poland—over 75%. The main objective of the analysis conducted was to determine if a current electric passenger vehicle can be competitive with an internal combustion car in everyday use. Therefore, a relationship was developed to calculate the total cost of ownership, which takes into account all the key criteria from the point of view of private vehicle use. The utilitarian value of this research may be supported by the fact that the example of Poland and its problems concerning the issue in question may serve as a source of preliminary analysis for other countries.