Electric vs Gas Cost

At electric rates at my last house it works out to $1.30/day for electric. Last two gas trucks I owned averaged $4/gal which equates to a $5.15/day savings.

The savings grow with distance driven. If you had a 50 mile round trip commute the electric savings almost doubles to $9.37/day.

 

Because I love math lets do some. I pay 11 cents/kWh which equals 3 cents/mile to drive my Tesla Model Y. The Mustang Mach-E is at the bottom of the EV efficiency and costs 4 cents/mile. Today gas is going for $4.30/gallon, and the average annual milage is 12,000 or 230 miles/week.

Tesla- .03 * 230 miles = $6.90/week to drive.
Mustang .04 cents/mile *230 miles = $9.20/week and $2.30 more than a Tesla/week $119.60/year
10 mpg car - 43 cents/mile *230 miles = $98.90/week making an EV savings of $92/week $4784/year
20 mpg car - 22 cents/mile *230 miles = $50.60/week making an EV savings of $43.79/week $2277/year
30 mpg car - 14 cents/mile *230 miles = $32.97/week making an EV savings of $26.07/week $1353/year
40 mpg car - 11 cents/mile *230 miles = $24.73/week making an EV savings of $17.83/week $927/year
50 mpg car - 9 cents/mile *230 miles = $19.78/week making an EV savings of $12.88/week $670/year

So ding! ding! ding! Winner, winner! You do save $12 compared to driving a 50 mpg car. All things are never equal and I don't think there is a 50 mpg car that can compare to the fun of driving an EV. But the statement is correct, if you cherry pick the numbers.

 

Heh most people don’t find shooting on-ramps to be “fun.”

I do find it curious that EV owners often cite this in their arguments

 

It's one of the few places where you can completely let your car run. The other day I ran with a Model S plaid. Holy shit and I thought my car was fast. He left me in the dust the same way I leave ICE cars.

The reality is open on ramps are rare and you have to be careful because it's totally possible to be going 30 over before you even have to merge. For me I love the instant responsiveness of my EV. Somebody doing something stupid next to me? With the slightest movement of my toe the car is accelerating me out of trouble or starting to stop long before I could ever get my foot on the brake. I get that people don't like being told they have to do something. (don't ask me about my HOA) But after living with an EV for 37K miles, most of the anti EV arguments sound completely silly. I'll never go back to ICE cars again.

 

Are you serious?

On ramps are the next best thing to track days or autocross. It's hwere you are SUPPOSED to give it the beans.

It's mentioned because many evs are seriously quick, but more than that have a throttle response that the best sports cars only dream about. This responsiveness is one of the best features of evs and I know quite a few gas car drivers who dislike going back to their gas car for just this reason.

 

Hell, an ev would save me around $200 a month in operating (fuel) cost. That is considering the cost of electricity.

The average driver drives 14,000 miles a year, not 10,000

So what did I do?
Picked up a vehicle that requires premium...

 

EV depreciation faster than expected and cost more money to repair compared to ICE.

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/10/...price-cuts-says-hertz-ceo-stephen-scherr.html

 

The data is broken for average miles a year since COVID. MY wife and I dont even combine for 10k miles a year and 99% of the people I used to work with are all remote so their driving has been cut by 80%. Most driving miles were obtain through commuting which a HUGE portion of the population stopped doing.

 

Too cold to charge EV in the midwest.

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/16/1224913698/teslas-chicago-charging-extreme-cold

 

It’s even worse than the PBS article describes, one EV charging station has turned into a parking lot.
https://youtu.be/tzrUkgbVoro?si=c1qdlKaE4rPP_BWQ

More details in this article:
https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news...to-keep-batteries-charged-amid-winter-freeze/

 

Ehhh the new EV battery tech coming will make this issue a thing of the past.

 

Yeah I recommend waiting for the future too before buying an EV

 

I'm waiting for solid state batteries in a few years so it's worth the wait for me.

 

No matter how much you like LI batteries there are going to be regions where they aren't going to out perform ICE powered appliances.

 

Agree and I like LI batteries, use them for power tools, emergency lanterns etc. And EVs make sense for some people, others not so much. Really have to do your homework before deciding if they’re for you, jumping on the bandwagon without analysis is the wrong thing to do.
Not long ago went on an 8 hour road trip to Florida - have no desire to turn an 8 hour trip each way into a 10 hour or longer trip. And if I lived in the cold regions I wouldn’t want to cut my range nearly in half due to decreased range in winter and to run the heater and as I would need to do.

 

LI sucks, it's all about graphene now. lol

 

I don't know how towing is ever going to work well. The problem is an EV is just so damn efficient per mile, and the trailer doesn't get more efficient because it's being towed by an ev. If your trailer uses say 1000watts per mile to tow then in a truck that normally uses 2000watts per mile (~17mpg) that 1000watts makes some difference but not awful. On the other hand an inefficient ev truck uses 500watts per mile (and goes 300 miles), now add that trailer that uses 1000 watts and it MASSIVLY affects range.

Put simply the gas truck uses 50% more energy per mile to tow a trailer. And EV truck uses two HUNDRED percent more energy to tow that same trailer.

You can fix that by giving huge ranges, but with batteries being by far the most expensive part nobody will want to pay for a 1000 mile dry range so they can get 350 when towing.

 

I think dodge has a winning idea with their "range extender", aka a hybrid. Don't even need 150 miles of "ev" range, maybe not even 100. Then just use the gas motor for any heavy work.

In truth there are few who need long range, even most "hard work" jobs. Simply put, unless his job is driving, if a guy is spending 3 hours in his truck each day that is 3 hours he isn't earning money. Yes, towing happens, but even that is a "short" run, not hundreds of miles. In reality most guys who need long ranges are hot shots and guys vacationing in their campers.

Storms may be a worry but same with gas. If it's full of electrons or full of gas you have a few days, if it's empty you are kind of screwed either way. Sure, you can hand pump gas, but you can charge off solar (or even a generator) too. I don't think one is inherently better or worse. Although, having a huge store of electricity may be nice if you don't also have a generator.

 

I've had my Tesla for 2½ years, and according to the Tesla app I have saved ~$3000/year (compared to my previous ICE). One of the biggest "pluses" of having an EV is not just paying less for energy, but the fact that you don't spend 10-12 minutes at the gas pump. For most guys, this doesn't matter whatsoever. But for my wife, who is 4'11'" and fiercely afraid of stopping for gas after dark, this makes a HUGE difference in security and peace of mind.

 

I tend to disagree unless you’re charging at home public chargers seem more secluded and take longer, also no snacks available for purchase and no toilets.