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Gas or electric? When it's time for a new car, that's where a lot of people get stuck. People argue about it endlessly online. But the answer isn't in the car. It's in your calendar. Draw a year of your driving as 365 little squares.
Most of them are just getting to work and back. In China's big cities, three in four people commute under forty-five minutes each way. A few dozen are weekends: school pickups, grocery runs. Only one or two are the long ones: going home for New Year, or a family road trip. So don't start with which car is best. Start with this: which day are you buying it for?
First: can you charge where you park at home? A gas car burns about seven liters every hundred kilometers. At today's prices, that's around sixty yuan. An electric car uses about thirteen kilowatt-hours for the same distance. Charged at home, at household rates, just over six yuan.
If you can only use public fast chargers, it's fifteen to twenty. Most of the savings are gone. Also, this year and next, plug-in cars get half off the purchase tax. That's up to fifteen thousand yuan off. Second: the longest trip of your year.
Electric cars hate the cold. America's AAA tested it: at minus seven Celsius with the heater on, range dropped about forty percent. If you drive long distances or live up north, look at cars that can plug in and fill up. Electric for short trips, gas for long ones. Right now, about three in ten new plug-in cars sold in China are this two-in-one kind.
Third: who sits in the back? Older parents need to get in and out easily. Kids need room for a car seat and a stroller. If the car is full only a few times a year, don't drive a giant one every day for those few.
And what about looking good? Psychologists asked drivers: how do you usually feel when you drive? The pricier the car, the happier they said they were. Then they asked it differently: think back to this morning's commute. How did you feel? This time, the car's value made no difference at all.
On the way to work, you're thinking about work and traffic, not the car. Only on a drive just for fun did the pricey car actually feel better. So tonight, grab a piece of paper and write down three things. Can you charge at home? What's your longest trip of the year? How many people usually ride in the back? Write those down, and the right car will mostly pick itself.
What did you write down? Tell me in the comments.
Draw a year of your driving as squares. Most are the commute: in China's big cities, three in four people get to work in under 45 minutes. A few dozen are weekends — school pickups, grocery runs. Only one or two are the long ones: going home for Chinese New Year, or a family road trip.
Don't ask which car is best.
Ask which day you're buying it for.
A gas car burns about 7 liters per 100 km — around 60 yuan at late-September prices. An electric car uses about 13 kWh for the same distance; charged at home at household rates, that's just over 6 yuan.
Electric only really saves
if you can charge at home.
Relying on public fast chargers costs 15–20 yuan, and most of the savings are gone. Also, in 2026 and 2027 China halves the purchase tax on plug-in cars — up to 15,000 yuan off.
Prices vary by city; run the numbers with your own local rates.
Electric cars hate the cold. America's AAA tested it: at −7°C with the heater on, range dropped about 40% on average.
AAA tested 2018 models; newer cars do better, but every electric car goes less far in winter.
Older parents need to get in and out easily. Kids need room for a car seat and a stroller.
Full only a few times a year?
Don't drive a giant car every day for those.
On those few full days, renting or borrowing usually costs less than running a big car all year.
That's from a study by American psychologists. On the way to work you're thinking about work and traffic, not the car. Only on drives just for fun did the pricey car actually feel better.
Looks are for other people.
The drive is yours, every day.
This is just a starting point — budget and a test drive still decide.
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