The True Cost of Powering an Electric Car

gotbald

I pay only around $5.00 to drive 350 miles with my Compressed Natural Gas vehicle. Screw electricity. Electricity is generated by burning natural gas, why not just burn it yourself in your car??

jamesd56

No article is complete without discussing electricity generated from solar power, the rising cost of gasoline, the rising efficiency of electric batteries and the very rapidly increasing efficiency of solar panels being produced by First Solar and GE. At trade in time, Tesla guarantees a comparable trade in value to a comparable gasoline car, so the fellows argument below holds no water. Besides, in 5-7 years, there will be so many electric cars on the market, that the trade in value of gasoline based cars will be close to zero. All vehicles will be electric. And sooner than you think.

tomk777

Or you can just drive a car that runs on clean burning CNG, which costs less than half the price of gasoline. The Honda Civic GX averages 30+ MPG on a fuel costing $1.65 per gallon or less, that's less than $5 per 100 miles, and if you compress it at home that number drops to $2.50 per 100 miles, and you can refuel anytime, day or night.
BTW - most of the grid's power is coming from natural gas anyway.

califscreamin

If you are in California they now have the DMV send you an additional registration fee to help pay for road maintenance since you aren't spending as much in gasoline taxes. I just drive a Hemi truck and at least I get there quick. Welcome to the Republic of California, Comrade.

tstucker

Electric cars is a really bogus idea. Not only are the kilowatt charges as high as gasoline in some areas, the idea of taking some horribly expensive technology on a vacation trip and having to stop every 40 to 100 mile to charge the thing up for 13 hours is idiocy at it's finest. Electric cars are for liberals to drive when other libs and the media will be looking. Keep them in Hollywood where they belong and spare the rest of us the embarrassment of spending 4 times what they're worth and not being able to actually go anywhere.

elliwe

I wonder what will happen when governments realize they are getting less gasoline tax income. I see a new "utility" tax coming.

seekingtruth

KWH (a kilowatts hour) 1000 watts is 1 Kilowatt hour. We are billed for electricity, in blocks of 1,000 watts. So, 1000 watts is a kilowatt hour. A 60 watt light bulb uses 60 watts per hour. So, to run the light bulb for 1 hour is only .06 of a kilowatt hour. At .18 cents per KWH a 60 watt light bulb costs .0108 per hour. A Mini consumes 38 KWHs per 100 miles means it is using 38,000 watts to drive 100 miles. 38 x .18 per KWH comes to $6.84 not the $5.25 stated in the article.

Just like with a gas vehicle, the faster you go the more energy consumed. So, at what speed will you get 100 miles per charge?

At 160 miles per 5 day work week. The EV has to recharge at least 2 times every 5 days. The down time is anywhere from 6 to 24 hours for consumers. Forgot something at the grocery store. To bad, a 5 minute charge will not get you much and can be bad for the batteries. Raising another question, who only drives to work and back. Nobody.

Now the other issue I haven't seen raised is the cost for charging station. For the EV electric companies requires a second meter be installed. That isn't a cheap thing to do.
Plus, you have to rent that meter.

Just like your house you will be billed a flat rate for the meter. At $10 per month that is $120 per year tacked on to the cost to drive the vehicle to and from work. Plus the taxes added to the bill.
Using the "about $5.25" (which is more like $6.84) at home rate for 100 miles. At 16 miles one way to work on average. That is 160 miles a week that is $8.40 to go to work 5 days a week. Times 4 weeks in a month that comes out to 33.60 plus meter $43.60 plus taxes billed on electric bill. And you can be talking $50 - $60 per month. That may seem like a great deal.

But, we didn't factor in the cost of installing a separate meter for your charging station. Do these stations require servicing from time to time? You will also have 6 to 12 hours of down time just to recharge your batteries. Now your stuck without a car! Nobody likes that! The solution a second vehicle!

Sure there are advantages but, as someone else pointed out the maintenance costs are more since not many know how to work on them. The batteries. 8 batteries at $120 each!!!! Big out of pocket expense. I hear brakes can be expensive for them.

If anyone thinks that this will not cause electric companies to raise prices due to the demand, they are crazy. If 500,000 people charged an EV just one time the electric company would make $3,420,000.00. We have no choice in electric companies. There is no competition either so, what do you think will happen. Electric usage is usage and it drains the grid. Cannot pay your electric bill, your in the dark and your not going anywhere in your car either. At least if you don't have money to put gas in your car, your house will still have electricity.

These charging stations are not going to be free for long. You will be charged a premium price to use them. Everyone is looking to make a buck.

We aren't fixing problems with EV. We are changing who we are paying. The money spent initially is spread out across different people then billed to make it seem like its cheaper!!!!! We have to face it. We will be dependent upon something or someone when it comes to travel. Be it, Oil and Gas, electric, solar, horse and buggy, hydrogen, or whatever.

FYI
A tanker from China to the US puts as much pollution into the air as 2.8 million vehicles. A tanker from Taiwan, which is in northern China puts out as much as 3.4 million vehicles. These are just one way trips.

bassrockerx

EV cars are so situational im glad edmunds took a moment to discuss this fact. The power company where i live in alabama has thier rates by zones and they don't publish where the zones are and the rates for each zone so you kinda have to do some detective work and find out what others pay for their electric bill. Where i used to live at a 1 bedroom apartment our power bill was over 200 dollars a month we had to move because when we was budgeting our expenses we was figureing much less than 100 dollars a month (60ish) meanwhile a few miles away my mother's 2 story house she is paying 140 a month every month except the 3 warmest months of summer and in winter sometimes as low as 80! SAME power company

joey_z

from where I live, I calculated that my 3 liter car costs 30 cents per mile, while the Tesla model S costs 3 cents per mile and offers better performance. Plus, don't forget to count in the cost saving on oil changes every year compared to gas cars.

stingerco

The article did not state how much the cost of the extra station (including installation) costs. How long do the batteries last? How much does a new one cost? Is there a warranty on the battery (without paying the extended service agreement). All of this should be considered.

firewolf65

I didn't read all the comments, but Edmunds failed to mention the cost of the solar array purchase for Tom in NJ. Tom is not paying nothing, he is still working towards just the break even point of the solar array.

Tell the whole story and lose the bias. i am disappointed that the author of this article missed that detail and I question the validity of their knowledge regarding the article.

Reginald_Williams

So many inaccuracies in this post and the comments.

Most EV's can charge from a simple dryer plug (NEMA 14-30) or electric range outlet (NEMA 14-50). Cost to install is usually $300-$500. Some time much less. It's also a capital improvement to your home. There is no need to install a separate meter.

Charging on the road is becoming much easier. Tesla has 1400 supercharger stations around the world and is opening hundreds more every year. Electrify America (VW subsidiary) is also aggressive installing fast charging stations. Destination charging locations are also expanding exponentially.

EV batteries will last more than 300,000 miles, long enough for you and the next two owners to use.

Maintenance costs are much less than internal combustion engine cars. No tune-up, oil changes, etc. Gas stations quickly become very quaint.

EV's are quieter and safer because there's no engine in front, and way more fun to drive.

Mr_Shiftright

Consumer Reports has indicated that a Tesla, for instance, actually has very high maintenance costs, at least as far as the Model S is concerned.

I think the way to approach a comparison to an ICE car is to calculate Total Cost to Own over a long time span. If you do that, taking into account depreciation, taxes/fees, financing, fuel, insurance, maintenance, repairs, tax credits---the difference between a Model S and an Audi or BMW isn't much at all.

ralphrides

Hi I don't own an EV car but so own an EV called a club car. I like the club car as its reliable, quiet, useful to plow snow, pull a large lawn mower, comfortable to sit in and drive around my property a very nice device to haul stuff as well. The 6 8 volt lead acid batteries cost about $100 using my farm membership and should last 5 to 7 years assuming one full charging cycle each two weeks. I added a trickle solar charging system so on sunny days it gets 3 amps at 54 volts for only the $60 and my time to add the panels to the roof. I would never want to go with a internal combustion club car after this pleasant experience. Regarding a EV auto, one has to be fair and add road tax, green house gas emissions for energy purchased from the electric grid, tax purchase incentives, average battery replacement ROI and charging station installation a your home to really do a engineering comparison. I like the idea but right now its not a very fare comparison.

knurl

To those who grab at the whole "The cost of replacing the battery is not worth it" - you have to see it in a few lights. First, batteries last 8-10 years up to 70% of their initial capacity. If you decide to keep your EV after the warranty then by that time battery tech will be A: cheaper or B: completely different so you could spend $5k on a new battery and get 2-3x the capacity. If you are buying a used EV then you know the range left and that may be suitable for your needs in town. It's really no different than being a used car and wondering when something will blow up....except that nothing will blow up in an EV and you just have to deal with the limited range - unless you replace the battery. Bottom line - the more moving parts and coolant and oil means you are sitting on a time bomb. EV's don't have that stress no matter how old they are.

sidblank

I think all these cost comparisons pale in light of the very likely self-extinction of the human race. What's that bumper sticker say again about not being able to eat money? By buying electric you are "investing" in the innovation needed to advance EVs, the electrical grid, production of electricity etc. Think of it as a trickle up consumer signal.

JerryPeters

Reading a variety of articles, and not finding a definitive answer due to a political or sales pitch lean in the various articles, if more and more people buy and use electric vehicles would not that require the power stations to produce more power and or expand the power stations facilities.

Most power generated in the USA, from what I read, comes from burning fossil fuels or nuclear. The burning of more of these fuels will have the opposite effect of what the purchase of evs by consumers had hoped for. Also, I suspect the cost of power will substantially go up due to the necessary expansion or increased load.So saving money by the individual's ev will be lost to increased cost in overall power generation increase in general taxes, and more pollution and nuclear waste.

Yes one can solarize their home, but many can't and sometimes not practical in many locations. And what if your not home, competing with a fleet of evs trying to charge near the Hearst Castle during a three day excursion might turn into a 4-5 day unplanned holiday.
If I had to by a type of ev, it would definitely be a Hybrid, maybe.

Davercee

"A regular workday, sitting in the sun with a solar cell on top should get you a full charge."

Now, this I would have to agree with.

Davercee

That's good to know, Dan. Might as well check that out.

Speedy

The point is that as you get more and more people buying electric cars, people are going to invest is a few solar panels to charge their cars off the grid.
There will always be push back from the car industry. Oil prices are on the lower end because this gives the consumer a false sense that the operating costs of a car are going to be low. How quickly we forget the stories during the last recession, when gas prices were around $4/ gallon, about people that could not afford to fill up their car, or did not have money for anything else. But here we are buying all the enormous vehicles again.

People need to think about the future, not just today.

AerospaceTech

Nobody talks about life span of the battery cells and cost of labor and new cells . Another equation not talked about can the electrical grid handle all the additional load? If you live in California rolling blackouts your screwed !

Heather_M

I bought two Nissan Leafs and have calculated that putting gas in my Dodge Ram pickup costs $0.27 per mile, putting gas in my 1995 Nissan Sentra costs $0.11 per mile and putting electricity in my Leafs costs $0.01 per mile. I'll grant you that we have pretty much the lowest electric rate in the nation since we have hydroelectric power, but given that Nissan is offering a $3,500 rebate, the IRS is offering a $7,500 tax credit and the state of Washington forgives the sales tax on the first $25,000 of the purchase price, it's pretty hard to go wrong. Oh, and did I mention that the cars are nearly silent and are really fun to drive?

nrkmann

This article is dated March 2019... How do we have comments on it from 2010?

kyfdx

nrkmann said:

This article is dated March 2019... How do we have comments on it from 2010?

I think they edit, update and revise the articles from time to time. (I haven't looked at this one)

Kristy_D

This is the most ridiculously negative story about electric vehicles.
-First of all, there are still plenty of free charging options in an urban (above pop 30,000) settings, including the dealer who sold you the car.
-Second, the cost to charge your car is 3-5$ -- when was the last time you filled your gas tank for that much?
-The cost given for installing a EV home charger is also inaccurate.
-Finally people put solar on their house, not to charge their cars, but to offset the much larger electric load on their houses. Net metering means that you can charge your car overnight -- it would be insane to put a battery backup in for that alone.

a719goodguy

And our power grid is the best and most stable... hahaha nope.... what happens when electric fails as it dose for days at a time. I wouldnt depend on it to get me out of a bad weather situation... and the cost per mile compared to gas is offset with the higher cost of the electric vehicle, charging station and over all un reliability electric has always produced. When ya need a tow it ain't gonna be an electric tow truck anytime soon... yes electric will compete with oil but until everyone and all the oil driven countries can afford to move towards electric Oil is King! Just the truth... can you depend on electric thru a storm season????

lwob

I installed a 240V outlet next to my panel in my garage for about $45 to charge my Tesla. I added another 2.4kW of solar panels to my 1.5kW I already had for $5,300 which included a new inverter ($1,500) since my old one of 14 years failed. Plenty of power for the car and extra for some house upgrades in my AC/Heating. (Passive solar house.) I found costs can vary drastically depending on installer. Haven't had a time where I couldn't charge during travel. Made a couple 1,100 mile trips to the Bay Area and back using Tesla superchargers with no problems. I charge at home rest of the time. No maintenance needed. You can keep your polluting oil dinosaurs.

eeyore

I use an average of 8kwh/day at home some of which I generate in sunshine. Charging would be at night from the grid and for a 40/50 mile ( smallish) mileage to /back work next day that would mean about another 5-10 ?Kwh. National Grid say a 10% extra load? Where did that shower go to school? If the companies talk rubbish what is the point of listening to any of these 'projections'. It's all political bias and corporate agenda and very little truth.

BruceFrank

So the electric grid that provides the electricity to charge your car uses a non-polluting energy source, and your car is absolutely pollution free. . .disregarding the "pollution" generated in manufacturing it!

BruceFrank

AerospaceTech said:

If you live in California rolling blackouts your screwed !

CA in the last few years has shutdown 9 gigawatts of natural gas generated electricity. This year all our rolling blackouts are being caused by a shortfall of only 4 gigawatts of power. CA is notorious for shutting down low cost low pollution sources including hydroelectric dams, with no alternative source available. Diablo Canyon, CA's only remaining Nuke plant will shutdown in 2025. With that shutdown CA will lose 20% of its electricity production (at a decommission cost of $4 billion). That cannot be made up with solar and wind. And there are no plans to even attempt to replace that 20%. Could it be that, in the near future, the cost of electricity to charge you 100% plugin vehicle will cost more than gasoline, at its highest price?

05thundercat

We can't afford the all electric buy in. I have to go where my bank account and family needs take me. I understand the pollution argument, but my family comes first, and right now I have to stick with what I have (diesel and gas). If tomorrow everyone jumped into the all electric future, we'd have to build more power plants, right? As of right now, what would "fuel" those additional power plants? I think we should "electrify" all the fleet and delivery vehicles out there (i.e., UPS, FedEx, USPS, U-Haul, rentals, etc). If a point were to be made, fleet and delivery is the proving grounds!

Golf

need to do a test on battery powered car on a track. run the car till the battery is dead. How many miles did it go. charge the battery again and run the car again on the same track till the battery is dead. How many miles did it go. Do this 50 times. does the car go the same miles, do it again after a 100 times. did the car go the same miles. keep doing this at 200 times , 300 times. I know you will find that the miles will be less and less and less. this has alway been the problem with rechargeable batteries.
I stick with gas. Good luck

Davidjackob_11

gotbald said:

I pay only around $5.00 to drive 350 miles with my Compressed Natural Gas vehicle. Screw electricity. Electricity is generated by burning natural gas, why not just burn it yourself in your car??

That's exactly what it should be. But fuel will be replaced by electric vehicles, which will eliminate the problem of fuel.

DIYScott

I pay nothing to drive my EV. We installed solar and then made efficiency improvements to the home which netted way more electric than we use. Bought an EV to use up the difference. In one more year, the solar will have generated more energy in money terms than we paid. The rest is free electric to run the house and car through retirement.

rgmichel

I reached net zero at our house with 76 solar panels, geothermal heating, and an electric car. Driving powered by the sun is a pretty awesome experience. I long ago gave up trying to nickel and dime the costs in the way done in this article. The fact is electricity is cheaper than gasoline per mile, electric cars require virtually no maintenance, and they. have great performance. Anyone who has gone electric has not regretted it. and indeed enjoys it tremendously. The do. have an environmental cost in production of batteries, but hopefully in time this will be solved and most discussions indicate the environmental cost is paid off after 50k miles. Its a fantasy to believe that gasoline cars are in any way better than electric cars. Those with a phobia about running their battery dead should not more worry about it than running out of gasoline.

Notsoldonsolaryet85

Not so fast on solor's going fix it all. Yes, man is getting closer too the propetual engine,and battery the size of a cigarette pack that will supply california.. when oil is gone,gas will be around for 150 years,then fustion reactors, will take over ,and solor will fill in the gaps. Solor and EV, will best be serverd as hy breed.dc motor,deep cycle battery,and clean buring Alchol or hydrgen,or gas burning, rechargeinge engine. Or when i buy the EV,it comes with fast charge station access,a fast charge home uint installed,and a map too all fastcharge free stations,because i went EV ALL THE WAY.. GOING EV (EVERY VOLTAGE) IN ONE PRICE. Just like all electrice house got you perks, then.. there are to many loose ends, right now,where is the free shipping.. when i go EV, i want too be free-er, than gas vehicals,i want rent the EV and get and use as much power as i need.. from a plathera of sites. Everywhere i go on this plante i want to be able too charge.even if that means, i got push the button and the back of my truck truns in too a giant solar panel bug,looking, and 2hrs latter i full for anotber 1,000 miles at 100 mph. So come on musk,make it happen..cuz bazoes is just sitting on his hands. Other wize he would be make the 4seat hover craft real. And uber, would be call (FLY) IT lands,you swipe,tell distanation and flying between 300ft too 600ft,to your destanation. 300ft is west 400 is east,500 is north,600 is south. Just too help with the crowded sky.just like west world..