Electric Vehicles More Expensive To Operate Than Gas Vehicles?

[Big Dave]

That’s certainly true in California where astronomical electric rates are the rule.

Inside Line: our Chevy Volt's battery miles cost more than the gas ones — Autoblog Green

Certainly running on the plug would be most cost-effective here in Indiana where our electricity comes from low-cost coal.

Still nothing on this car in the winter.

[SVOboy]

The thing only gets 31.1 mpg as a normal, non-plug in hybrid. That's pretty abysmal.

Also, what you consider astronomical isn't so much. If you consider electricity rates from a broader perspective, most Americans are underpaying big time as a result of dirty coal and the like.

But anyway, I'm going to say meh. If it only costs more under the most expensive possible conditions in the US, then in every other it will be less, and the headline is therefore just plain old misleading.

[RobertSmalls]

Yeah, it is pretty typical of ABG to go for a sensationalist angle, even at the expense of clarity.

You'll pay a lot less per mile for juice than for gas. That doesn't mean the total cost of ownership will be lower, though. Battery depreciation will give EV's a higher cost per mile, at least at first.

[NeilBlanchard]

They either used an astronomical amount of electricity, or they didn't actually measure the recharges: 100 miles on 39kWh is about 2.56kWh/mile. The Volt is supposed to get 25-50 miles per charge, and it has about 8.8kWh usable, by most reports; so that is 2.84-5.68kWh/mile. Which is much higher...

Or they charged it 2 or 3 times and just guessed at the total as 16kWh per charge? At the proverbial 40 miles per charge it is a total of 22kWh to go the 100 miles.

Someone on ABG also pointed out that the highest electrical rate in the country is in Hawaii: 27.7 cents per kWh; so where they paid 31 cents per kWh is also questionable.

I've run the numbers comparing the RAV4 EV to the RAV4 ICE at 19 cents per kWh /100 miles per charge (what we pay here, which is much higher than the national average of about 9 cents?) and $2.75 gallon / 24MPG, plus the regular maintenance:

The EV saves about $12,000 per 100K miles, and since it is likely that lithium batteries will last at least 200K miles (as the NiMH batteries have), you will most likely save way more money than a replacement battery pack will cost you in the future. Plus, the EV will keep on driving with that replacement pack.

[jjackstone]

I was also wondering where they came up with the 31 cent per kwh number. I have PGE in Sacramento and even with taxes only pay about 17 cents/kwh. I suppose the prices could be close to double in the LA area, but the number seems pretty inflated.
JJ

[tumnasgt]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

They either used an astronomical amount of electricity, or they didn't actually measure the recharges: 100 miles on 39kWh is about 2.56kWh/mile. The Volt is supposed to get 25-50 miles per charge, and it has about 8.8kWh usable, by most reports; so that is 2.84-5.68kWh/mile. Which is much higher...

I think you mean 2.56miles/kWh or 0.39kWh/mile.

[Angelus359]

holographic prism photovoltic solar panels are what you need

Then you'll be golden... Pay into the grid during the day, and then at night get it right back.

[mechman600]

For the DIY EV conversion people, batteries are coming WAY down in price. 20kwh worth of Lithium batteries cost $20K two years ago. Now you can find them for around $7K.

Simple math: 60 mile charge X 2000 cycles = 120000 miles on a pack = $0.06/mile for batteries. 20kwh X $0.10 per kwh = $2.00/fill = $0.03/mile energy. TOTAL = $0.09/mile. Not SUPER cheap, but hey, battery prices will only go down. A lot.

[Clev]

Originally Posted by jjackstone

I was also wondering where they came up with the 31 cent per kwh number. I have PGE in Sacramento and even with taxes only pay about 17 cents/kwh. I suppose the prices could be close to double in the LA area, but the number seems pretty inflated.
JJ

The answer is simple: they're morons. They probably charged off a standard meter and got hit for the highest peak-hours tier. Southern California Edison charges between 4 and 11 cents per kWh for "super off-peak" EV charging (midnight-6am) when sharing the household meter. If you have a separate meter put in, you get 14 cents peak and 6 cents off-peak (off-peak being 9pm to noon the following day.)

[sbdeadelf]

Agreed- ABG is deliberately freaking people out. Do anything poorly and your results will be bad, and that holds true for electric cars also. I do my around town driving in a '99Solectria Force (factory EV) and I've barely noticed a change in my electricity bill... and that's without even having access to the 'off peak' or 'super off peak' rates! (Soon though, I'll get the right meter along with solar panels! Muahahahaaa!)