This 247 € factors in vehicle costs, taxes, maintenance, and insurance. Keep in mind that actual fuel costs for this stretch with a VW Golf VII would be 25.4 €

This 247 € factors in vehicle costs, taxes, maintenance, and insurance. Keep in mind that actual fuel costs for this stretch with a VW Golf VII would be 25.4 € (3.3 l/100km * 550km * 1.40 €/liter). So you're right. If you go out and buy a brand new VW Golf VII, insure it fully, and regularly drive this stretch, you're probably going to experience an average cost of 247 € for this stretch. But there's two problems with this: The actual marginal cost of the trip is still 25.4 €, plus let's give it a generous maintenance cost putting it at around 50 €. That's still less than half of the cost of the ICE. Add to this that you now have a car which can carry five people and the costs don't increase at all per person. A trip with 5 people is still going to cost you that 500 € instead of 615 €. The second problem is that this is when you're buying a new car. Buying a used car would very easily bring your 247 € cost down below that 123 € even with the increase maintenance costs.