cheaper to operate than an electric car?

[sheepdog 44]

I just did the math and it turns out that gas is so cheap right now that my 01 Insight costs less to operate than an electric car. If you get at least 54.4mpg, at $2.22 per gallon of gas and 14.07¢ per KWH of electricity, then you are equal to the fueling cost of an electric car.

At ~65mpg my car costs me a little over half a cent less at 3.4¢ per mile vs 4¢ per mile. Gas would need to rise 48¢ per gallon before i have an equal operating cost to an electric car. But even at current gas prices my Moms Prius could easily hit 54.4mpg or be not far off with her commute of nice rolling hills.

It's not something you think about because it's usually assumed an electric car costs less to operate than a gas or hybrid car. In my case it does not right now, and if you drive a Prius you might be close. Moral of the story is enjoy cheap gas while it lasts, it won't be for long.

The math:
2.22 / ((.1407 x 33.04) / 114) = 54.44
current gas price / (( cents per KWH x KWH in a gallon of gas) / Combined epa of Nissan Leaf) = the mpg you would need to equal the fueling cost of an EV

You can find out what your equivalent mpg goal for fueling cost would be by pasting this into google 2.22 / ((.1407 x 33.04) / 114) and changing for your mpg and kwh electricity costs.

[Hersbird]

But there is more to operating costs then just the price of gas or electricity. A 15 year old Insight is going to destroy any new car when you look at depreciation, insurance, liscense fees. My Subaru does and it doesn't average more then 25 mpg.

[Ecky]

I did this same math recently. However, it depends on how much you're paying for electricity. Forum member "cowmeat" I believe is paying ~2 cents per kwh for his Volt by charging outside of peak hours.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

A 15 year old Insight is going to destroy any new car when you look at depreciation, insurance, liscense fees.

Any 15 year old vehicle is going to destroy a new car on everything but fuel economy, at least in this state, and there still isn't much, EV or gas, that will beat an Insight. I'm just waiting for the price of used Tesla Roadsters to drop :-)

[cowmeat]

The electric equivalent to a gallon of gas costs me about 2.36 a gallon, and gas at the station down the street is about 2.25 per gallon right now. So gallon per gallon your math works . . .

But my Insight, which I hypermiled daily and was one of the higher mpg Insights on the site got less than half the gas mileage my Volt gets. The math only works if you don't factor in the giant difference between gas mileage in an ICE car and that of the average EV. My Insight was one of the highest mpg gas cars of all times, but I immediately doubled the best gas mileage I ever got in the Insight the first time I drove the Volt

[pgfpro]

I'm at a 98 mpg equivalent. Our electricity cost is very low at .08325 right now and gasoline price average is 2.37 a gallon.

[redpoint5]

Wow, Mass electricity is expensive; nearly twice the price I'm paying for hydro power.

It costs me about 2 cents per mile for EV, and about 4 cents per mile for gasoline in the Prius.

Many people have access to free charging from work or other public source, so it makes driving essentially free.

EV driving also has very low wear and tear costs, and therefore lower maintenance. It turns out that battery life has more to do with age and temperature than how often the vehicle is driven.

That said, there are many areas at the moment where gasoline prices are low enough that it's cheaper than electricity. Hawaii and CA come to mind.

I wonder how efficient an Insight converted to pure EV would be? It makes more sense to compare the cost per mile of gasoline vs EV using similar vehicles rather than cherry picking the most efficient type of one and the least efficient type of the other.

[Ecky]

^ I'm thinking about doing a Leaf swap in the not too distant future. I might pick up a second cheap Insight with a failed battery to use.

[sheepdog 44]

Originally Posted by cowmeat

The electric equivalent to a gallon of gas costs me about 2.36 a gallon, and gas at the station down the street is about 2.25 per gallon right now. So gallon per gallon your math works . . .

Gallon per gallon actually works in favor of your Volt. At your numbers you save ~1 cent per mile with the Volt only using electricity. Your numbers come out to 99mpg for a car to have the same fueling cost vs your Volt so you have a good electricity rate which is good.

It looks like you're only using ev mode in your Volt, that is some sick hypermiling getting 150% from a Volt.

If anyone thought I was cherry picking i did factor in the better 114 mpge combined rating of the Leaf. And with how cheap gas is and the cost of my electricity i found i'd only need 54mpg to have the same fueling cost which i thought amusing.

[fusion210]

I'd hope so! Years ago I did some fuzzy math with the Spark even though I couldn't buy it. Gas version vs EV at my local rates. A little hypermiling and ecomodding on the gasser. Including rebates, made up but less brutal than it is depreciation, charger installation, saving on belts/oil for the EV, needing to rent something a few times a year for my 500+ mile trips, gas would have to be $9/gal even three years after ownership to break even. To me that was an incredible difference that made me question how far we'd have to go to have EVs on the same platform to save money.