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Originally Posted by mort
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I work at the single largest consumer of electricity, natural gas, and water in the county (silicon wafer manufacturing plant). I overheard someone say our electric bill is $3,000,000 per month. At $0.044/Kwh, that is an enormous amount of energy.
Recently we had motion sensing lights installed in most areas on the campus. I'd be surprised if it put the slightest dent in the monthly bill. The florescent bulbs have been burning out at an extremely rapid pace compared to the older lights that were run more continuously.
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Originally Posted by Astro
Soooo cheap... those might have been the prices a hundred years ago where i live but not today.
Here in Australia, in the lovely state of Victoria the prices are about 30 cents / kWh peak times and about half that during off peak times (11pm to 7am).
Then there is the daily base charge (supply charge) of around $1.10 per day, roughly $33 per month...
At the prices you are paying why doesn't everybody have an electric car.  |
Your monthly base charge is my total summertime bill. My (deported) roommate is Australian, and it was my understanding that the cost of living in Australia is much higher than the U.S. Everything costs more, but the minimum wage is higher, and there is more socialized services.
Where I live, it is roughly 1/3 the cost in energy to drive an EV compared to a conventional gasoline car. EVs seem to make the most financial sense as a 2nd vehicle for families with more than 1 vehicle.
I would have a Leaf as a 4th vehicle, but I don't purchase new vehicles, and there aren't many other affordable EV options yet.
With gasoline at $3/gallon, it would take a very long time for a $30,000 Leaf to come out ahead of a used $10,000 gasser.
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Originally Posted by sendler
Add in the limited life of the Leaf battery at $5,500 every 5 years/ 80,000 miles (hidden cost of $0.07 / mile is probably quite a bit higher than a ice drivetrain), and the limited range, and the best gas cars are still cheaper to run and more versatile.
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The average useful lifetime of the battery pack is estimated to go 10 years and over 100,000 miles. If you choose a worst case scenerio for an EV and compare it to a gasser, you must also choose the worst case scenario for the gasser.
According to Edmunds, the total cost of ownership over 5 years for a new
Leaf is $31,600 compared to the
Prius C, at $31,800.