Driving 100 Miles in an EV Is Now More Expensive Than in an ICE

[FC]

https://jalopnik.com/driving-100-mil...n-i-1850031874

[ZBB]

Originally Posted by FC

https://jalopnik.com/driving-100-mil...n-i-1850031874

The press-release linked from the article doesn't give details on assumptions. I'd like to understand the assumptions:
- ICE: cost per gallon, MPG for each class of vehicle...
- BEV: cost per kWh (for both home charging and fast charging) and Wh/Mi for each class of vehicle...

With that info, we can do the math.

In my case, this is definitely not true.
- Home charging: $0 per kWh when charging at night (8pm-6am); $0.26 if we need to pull from the grid during peak hours (6am-8pm), but in reality any day charging is from solar or the house battery.
- Fast Charging: Rates have always varied by state, but Tesla now has time of use rates in many places (including in TX...). My last charge charge was $0.29/kWh, and the one before that was $0.23.

If I do the math, I also need to know how many kWh the car takes to drive 100 miles:
- My logging shows my Model 3 has averaged 275 wh/Mi since new (lower is more efficient -- the Model S was just over 300)...
- That equates to 27.5kWh to go 100 miles

Cost per 100 miles:
- Home - night charging or solar/battery storage: $0
- Home - pull from grid during day: $7.15 (this doesn't happen...)
- Supercharger: $6.33 or $7.98 -- but could be higher based on TOU.

Let's equate that to MPG... If gas prices were $3/gallon, we would be buying between 2.11 and 2.66 gallons. An ICE would have to get real-world MPG of 37 to 47 MPG in order to spend the same on gas than I do.

Let's now look at an ICE that gets 30 MPG real-world @ $3/gal. Gas would cost $10 for 100 miles.

The math doesn't add up in that press-release...

[John V]

Originally Posted by ZBB

In my case, this is definitely not true.
- Home charging: $0 per kWh when charging at night (8pm-6am);

Assuming you're pulling from solar, that's obviously not $0 per kWh. The solar system cost money, and you're effectively running your own power generation system to recoup those costs.

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by John V

Assuming you're pulling from solar, that's obviously not $0 per kWh. The solar system cost money, and you're effectively running your own power generation system to recoup those costs.

He’s pulling $0 energy off the grid overnight.

Mind you, it’s the solar system that makes that billing plan tenable.

[John V]

Right. I mean I get that the solar system is a sunk cost, but it's still a cost. You don't get to zero it out when it's convenient to do so.

[robg]

Yeah- not sure how useful these generalized studies are. The pros/cons/costs of running an EV really come down to your personal situation. At best, studies such as this might be good food for thought in terms of additional variables to include when comparing total costs for your own situation. In this case, considering "deadhead" miles and amortizing the cost of charging equipment aren't often mentioned. To me, the main reasons to get an EV (or plugin hybrid) are comfort (especially crawling along in stop/go traffic) and convenience (charging at home). Nice if it saves some money but I wouldn't make that the deciding factor (unless it's a drastic benefit one way or the other).

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by John V

Right. I mean I get that the solar system is a sunk cost, but it's still a cost. You don't get to zero it out when it's convenient to do so.

Eh.

1) Without the solar system, he'd be using a different rate plan.
2) The solar system pays its cost back in non-car related savings.
3) Even at peak charge rates, he's a lot lower than the costs these folks are citing.

[John V]

Again, completely missing the point, but it's not worth arguing with you.

[ZBB]

Forget my home charging for a second…. The Fast Charging math still doesn’t work. $6-8 to fast charge my car for 100 miles. Approx $10 for a car that gets 30MPG to go the same distance (which is less than the study - so they assumed less MPG!…)

Back to my home charging situation.
- the electric plan I’m on does not require solar. If I didn’t have solar, I might still have selected it -- having 10 hours/day of electricity at $0 is still useful (especially for an EV owner); as long as you can shift enough demand to the free period, the higher daytime rate doesn't matter as much. But at even the higher day rate, the cost to charge from the grid is similar to fast charging.
- as for the solar system… yes, that system had a cost. Amortized over 20 years, the solar portion of the system has an estimated $0.09 per kWh average cost. So charging from solar would be even less. Since the system generates slightly more power than we use (both for our first full year, and the full 2022), then the cost to charge for 100 miles is ~$2.50