3 ms·
> And electricity is much cheaper than gas. Maybe. When I was commuting, my daily driver gas car got 36 MPG. My commute used 0.72 gallons. At $3.55/gallon, th
by jjav 6y ago
> And electricity is much cheaper than gas.
Maybe.
When I was commuting, my daily driver gas car got 36 MPG. My commute used 0.72 gallons. At $3.55/gallon, the trip cost $2.56 or about 9.9 cents/mile.
At the same time I had a Fiat 500e. The same commute consumed 11kWh.
So the breakeven point (between my two cars) is $0.24/kWh in electric cost.
Looking at my PG&E bill, peak time (4pm-9pm) cost is $0.35/kWh and part-peak (9pm-midnight) is $0.34/kWh. These are winter time prices, they are much higher in the summer (but I only have my current bill handy).
So if I had to ever charge the electric car during peak or part-peak times, it is quite a bit more expensive than gas.
Now, of course, I only charge it at night (PG&E price $0.17/kWh) so it is a bit cheaper. Just need to be careful to set the timer so charging never starts before midnight.
- reissbaker 6y agoOh wow, 11kWh to go 26 miles... I guess it depends heavily on the car, then. The Tesla Model 3 (the car I own) gets a little better than 4 miles per kWh, which would mean the trip would take around 6kWh — so about half the cost, making it cheaper than gas even at California electricity prices.
- jjav 6y ago> Oh wow, 11kWh to go 26 miles... Well that commute includes going up a 2000ft mountain pass so that part drains the battery pretty quick. I'm sure the Fiat would get better range in flat land, but there isn't much flat land around here.
- reissbaker 6y agoGoing uphill would also burn more gas though, so I'm surprised a pure gas car was getting 36 mpg under that scenario. And at least the electric car would regenerate a portion of the electricity on the way back down; it's not like brakes can produce gasoline, after all.
- theshrike79 6y agoAmerican gas prices are insanely low, and not really representative of the rest of the world. cries in 1.5€/litre (about 5.7€/gallon) My EV consumes around 15kW/100km, which by cost is equivalent of around 2 litres per 100km (117MPG)