Posted on 12/28/2021 8:40:56 AM PST by RicocheT
Compelling new evidence reveals a disconnect between the metrics used to analyze fuel costs and the realities that EV drivers face on the ground.
The More You Consider, the Worse EVs Look Again, the new research is just the first installment in a larger series, but its results are undeniably head-turning. The study found that:
Commercial charging rates are two to four times higher than residential rates.
Level 1 chargers cost an average of $600 to install and can take 20 hours to fully charge an EV.
Level 2 chargers are much faster but cost $1,600.
“Full charge” is a misleading term because charging past 90% is slow, difficult and unadvised, which means you get far fewer miles than the advertised ranges would have you believe. Gas vehicles, on the other hand, are good for 300-400 miles per tank.
Considering all of those factors, and presuming a greater reliance on commercial charging, it would cost $8.58 to fuel a mid-priced gas car that gets 33 mpg for 100 miles at $2.81 a gallon. Comparatively, a mid-priced EV — Tesla Model 3, Nissan Leaf or Chevy Bolt — would cost $12.95 per 100 miles.
Annually, presuming 12,000 miles driven, it would cost $1,030 to drive a gas car versus $1,554 for an EV.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Which Really Costs More: Charging an EV or Filling Up Your Tank With Gas?
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
” Comparatively, a mid-priced EV — Tesla Model 3, Nissan Leaf or Chevy Bolt — would cost $12.95 per 100 miles.”
Amortizing a level 2 charger cost over 200k miles I get charging costs of $3.80 per 100 miles.
“and 50% is lost in transmission”
ABSOLUTELY WRONG YET YOU KEEP POSTING THIS NONSENSE!
One of the drawbacks for me is that I like to explore when I’m on a road trip. Where does this road go? What unique sights will I see. With a EV, it seems to me, at first you’ll be tethered to the major highways and constantly planning for the next “fill up”.
Come to Texas... DFW area... 2.79 Lowest I’ve seen... almost all are under 2.89/gal.
“Do you really want that Ford F-150 EV which has a curb weight 1,000 lb more than the gas one? That’s an extra weight when the truck is carrying no load in the bed.”
What is the problem?
The fundamental issue is simply economics. Can EVs enjoy a lower life-cycle cost than internal combustion propelled vehicles? It's a race between competing technology innovation.
That said I am skeptical that an EV will ever replace my off road SUV for remote desert transport including hauling or trailoring supplies and construction material.
But I know a lot of folks with Tesla's and they are happy about it. Stories of lemons? Sure. Tell me Detroit never produced a lemon.
“The gas tank in a car takes a minute or two to fill. A sliver of the time it takes to charge an EV: From a couple of hours to overnight.”
For the average driver no time. Charging is done while sleeping.
And no way can you fill a tank in a minute.
“What’s next, I suppose you’re going to tell me that all those “recyclables” I put in that blue bin aren’t actually recycled”
My step-son told me last weekend that the recycling in our area is just taken to the dump along with the other garbage because the prices the recyclers were paying is too low to make a profit so it’s cheaper to put it all in the landfill.
“I really think most people charge up at home. Or not??
Charging up at home is like running dyed diesel in your car. You bypass road taxes.”
Good point, they’ll likely have to outlaw at-home charging or put meters on home chargers. Otherwise they won’t know how much of a home power bill is being used to bypass the road-tax system.
But I don’t expect the above until they mandate further ‘acceptance’ of electric cars.
And where are these chemicals that go into these batteries going to come from? And how will they be extracted? What energy sources will be required for that?
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There are lots of inter-related variables.
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And let’s not forget the future cost to the car owner of the disposal of the battery.... let alone what the cost will be years from now when the battery attains some new ‘hazard designation’ that it might not have now....
That would be individual liberty.
The primary reason that a lot of people have purchased electric cars has been because of massive subsidies. Depending on what state that you live in the subsidies have often added up to over half the purchase price of the new car. For many of us old cheap skates the temptation to get a “bargain” is just too much to resist never mind that there are severe limitations and the price of a new batter ten years later could easily make your car nearly worthless.
China has a strangle hold on some of the materials necessary to manufacture electric car batteries. And most of the components in lithium ion batteries cannot be economically recycled. They are going to get more expensive as time goes on.
“More often than not it proved unnecessary, but there were multiple occasions where the practice saved me from running out of fuel in the middle of a busy interstate spur or bypass. Topping off like that in an EV on a long trip would add hours and hours to an already long trip.”
That’s a good point, and it is actually MORE IMPORTANT in an EV to worry about traffic jams, as you will eat up battery charge trying to stay warm (or cool) in EVs, where’s that’s only a very small factor for normal cars.
“And let’s not forget the future cost to the car owner of the disposal of the battery...”
Walmart paid me for my old battery!
Now where did i hide my dynamite?
“On Cape Cod, electricity costs 23 cents per kwh if you shop for best “supplier” rate, or 25 to 26 cents if you don’t. Much of New England has electricity costs that are 50 to 100% greater than the rest of the country”
Actually, California is over 30 cents for your last kwh (they have a tiered system, but you eat through the lower tiers long before you plug in your car), and then you have taxes to deal with.
“I’m wonderin’ where people buy gas for $2.81/gal.”
We paid $2.57 in Houston today for 87 octane.
What sort of life expectancy are you counting on with your solar array? Many articles I’ve read limit the available life from an array at a maximum of 20 years down to as little as ten.
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