When should I switch from a gas car?

The question assumes there's an ideal moment, but the reality is more complicated. What's mentioned above is partly true, but it's missing an important factor: electric cars are still pretty expensive compared to decent used gas cars. If your budget is tight and you don't have a garage to charge at, a gas car from a few years back can keep you going for many more years without breaking the bank. Switching makes sense when several things line up at once: available money, charging infrastructure where you live, and actually using the car a lot (so you recoup the investment). If you only have one or two of those things, it's probably not the right time yet.

The thing nobody mentions is that the right moment isn't when your gas car breaks down, but when you're paying for the annual service and you see the bill. That's when it really starts to hurt, because on top of what you're spending on maintenance, you're still burning through money on fuel. If your car's already a few years old and starting to rack up little problems, that's the point where you should sit down and do the real math: how much is it gonna cost me to keep this thing running for another two years versus switching now?

What they also don't tell you is that the total cost of an electric looks better if you don't treat it like a one-time expense. Electricity is way cheaper than gas, registration taxes are lower in most places, and maintenance is practically nonexistent compared to what you drop on oil, filters and all that stuff. The real problem is the upfront cost, obviously. But if you can swing waiting a few months or hunting for a used one, prices are dropping quite a bit.

Here's a trick that actually works: before you commit, try renting an electric for a week and live your normal routine. That way you see if you can really adapt to charging times and whether the range covers the trips you actually make. Some people come out totally sold on it and some people realize it's not gonna work for them at all. Better to figure it out for a bit of money than to be stuck bitter with a purchase that cost thousands of euros.