Cost Per mile EV v ICE

[Nygman]

So I've had my electric car for a little over 2 months. And I constantly marvel at how fun it is to drive how cool it is to actually have an electric car. One thing I like to do is to figure out how much I save every time I drive the car. My other car is a Ford Flex EcoBoost. It's a great car but it's not the most fuel efficient thing in the world being twin turbo and requiring super unleaded. What I like to do is see how much electricity it takes to do a trip, and then compute the cost based on my electricity cost for home charging which at the moment is 28 cents a kilowatt.

So here is today's just trip to Manhattan from Westchester for a doctor's appointment. I wanted to share my math, because I think it is pretty cool.

I like to do comparisons against my other car which is The aforementioned Ford Flex EcoBoost. Based on years of experience owning this car and doing a similar trip into Manhattan, I would get about 12 mi per gallon, and fill up with super. The trip today was pretty standard, on the way in, it consisted of some fast driving and then that slowly yielded to some crazy traffic. On the way back there was light traffic until I exited the Bronx, where it cleared up and ended in some spirited driving down the Bronx River parkway. I follow the same route I always do so the mile per gallon estimate should be good to compare with. I will say I drove at higher speeds in the MachE And I would in the Ford Flex. So let's look at the economics.

I drove 46 mi round trip. In total I used 14.5 KWh on the drive and I pay .28 per Kw at home to recharge. So the cost expanded for the power consumed was a little over $4. Now let's compare to my Ford Flex, at it's typical 12 mpg on that exact trip. Just filled it up and Gas is 4.50 a gal for super. So it would have cost $17.10 If I would have driven it That's a savings of over $13. Not to mention that it was much more fun to drive a Ford MachE GT, and some of the curvy roads are quite fun to drive on and when the traffic kicked in on the way in during rush hour, the hands-free driving was amazing.

So yes there are more efficient electric cars on the market, but the efficiency at least for me when compared to my other car, makes the MachE is amazing value when you look at cost per mile. I have no complaints, In fact I'm driving it much more and I'm filling up the other car a lot less often, And hack it's more fun to drive a Mustang MachE GTPE, but knowing I'm saving money makes it even better. Coming from a Ford Mustang GT, that would have got similar gas mileage to my Ford Flex on the trip like this. The smiles per dollar per mile factor are definitely higher on the MachE.

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[Billyk24]

Most of these EV verse ICE comparison costs fail to include hidden costs such as: higher insurance, less treadwear meaning sooner tire replacement, higher tire costs, greater state registration costs. Higher road tripping costs than fuel efficient hybrid/plug in vehicles.....

 

[Nygman]

Most of these EV verse ICE comparison costs fail to include hidden costs such as: higher insurance, less treadwear meaning sooner tire replacement, higher tire costs, greater state registration costs. Higher road tripping costs than fuel efficient hybrid/plug in vehicles.....

There are other factors I'm not looking at here. I was just comparing the cost of fuel, whether that be gas or electric. We could start doing depreciation allocations, maintenance costs, and many other things but that's a deeper analysis and something I'm not looking to do here. I just want to know that when I go to the grocery store to shop for groceries, it cost me $0.40, versus about $3.80 in my other car.

 

[timbop]

Most of these EV verse ICE comparison costs fail to include hidden costs such as: higher insurance, less treadwear meaning sooner tire replacement, higher tire costs, greater state registration costs. Higher road tripping costs than fuel efficient hybrid/plug in vehicles.....

Those are dependent on locale. For a Tesla aluminum frame that can't be fixed, yes the insurance is higher. When I traded in my convertible mustang my insurance went up by $6. In blue state NJ I paid no sales tax on the Mach-E (because it is a ZEV), and do not pay any different registration. I also have solar panels so my cost is $.03/mile. My wife's PHEV is driven almost exclusively on electricity also - she has filled the tank exactly once since last july 16th. Together we've saved over $2000 in fuel costs.

So yes, a lot depends on circumstances.

 

[Nygman]

I should have added my insurance did go up, I think $32. I didn't see any difference in registration or tax, although I believe the inspection is less in New York for an EV. I would like to get solar but so far I can't get those numbers to work but at some point I hope to, which would further reduce the cost of fuel. It's still amazes me and how some of the short trips cost virtually nothing, where as in my ice car those short trips devastate my fuel economy. Starting up an ice car driving it to the shops about 3 mi away shopping and then starting it up and driving it back all on local streets with lots of traffic lights and stop signs, it's just not fuel efficient at all for an ICE car. That's where my calculations are showing the biggest savings. The medium trips like this one still show pretty good savings, I think longer road trips though where you have to fast charge will probably break even. I haven't done one yet but that's my expectation.

 

[ArthurDOB]

So I've had my electric car for a little over 2 months. And I constantly marvel at how fun it is to drive how cool it is to actually have an electric car. One thing I like to do is to figure out how much I save every time I drive the car. My other car is a Ford Flex EcoBoost. It's a great car but it's not the most fuel efficient thing in the world being twin turbo and requiring super unleaded. What I like to do is see how much electricity it takes to do a trip, and then compute the cost based on my electricity cost for home charging which at the moment is 28 cents a kilowatt.

So here is today's just trip to Manhattan from Westchester for a doctor's appointment. I wanted to share my math, because I think it is pretty cool.

I like to do comparisons against my other car which is The aforementioned Ford Flex EcoBoost. Based on years of experience owning this car and doing a similar trip into Manhattan, I would get about 12 mi per gallon, and fill up with super. The trip today was pretty standard, on the way in, it consisted of some fast driving and then that slowly yielded to some crazy traffic. On the way back there was light traffic until I exited the Bronx, where it cleared up and ended in some spirited driving down the Bronx River parkway. I follow the same route I always do so the mile per gallon estimate should be good to compare with. I will say I drove at higher speeds in the MachE And I would in the Ford Flex. So let's look at the economics.

I drove 46 mi round trip. In total I used 14.5 KWh on the drive and I pay .28 per Kw at home to recharge. So the cost expanded for the power consumed was a little over $4. Now let's compare to my Ford Flex, at it's typical 12 mpg on that exact trip. Just filled it up and Gas is 4.50 a gal for super. So it would have cost $17.10 If I would have driven it That's a savings of over $13. Not to mention that it was much more fun to drive a Ford MachE GT, and some of the curvy roads are quite fun to drive on and when the traffic kicked in on the way in during rush hour, the hands-free driving was amazing.

So yes there are more efficient electric cars on the market, but the efficiency at least for me when compared to my other car, makes the MachE is amazing value when you look at cost per mile. I have no complaints, In fact I'm driving it much more and I'm filling up the other car a lot less often, And hack it's more fun to drive a Mustang MachE GTPE, but knowing I'm saving money makes it even better. Coming from a Ford Mustang GT, that would have got similar gas mileage to my Ford Flex on the trip like this. The smiles per dollar per mile factor are definitely higher on the MachE.

Good for you! I won’t rain on your parade….

 

[VindictivePantz]

Most of these EV verse ICE comparison costs fail to include hidden costs such as: higher insurance, less treadwear meaning sooner tire replacement, higher tire costs, greater state registration costs. Higher road tripping costs than fuel efficient hybrid/plug in vehicles.....

Gas taxes are generally replaced with the higher registration fees, so it's probably a wash, or not a terribly extreme difference.

For tires, you'd go through 4-6 sets over 200k miles, so for an EV, you might go through 6-8. Yes, higher cost, but not material.

Insurance is a hard one as it varies by state, individual discounts, etc., but I'm paying less on my MME than on my wife's 2019 Audi A4 Allroad.

Finally, the cost of power can greatly vary. I'm lucky enough to have an hourly rate plan, which means I'm typically charging at 1 or 2 cents/kWh overnight, plus around $12 for a "capacity" charge.

ICE and hybrids will need more maintenance.

In my case, compared to the Mazda 6 I replaced with my MME, I'm saving $40-$60+ per week on gas, and that Mazda got 28-30MPG.

With all that being said, the are situations where an EV is not as cost effective, so to each his/her own.

 

[timbop]

I should have added my insurance did go up, I think $32. I didn't see any difference in registration or tax, although I believe the inspection is less in New York for an EV. I would like to get solar but so far I can't get those numbers to work but at some point I hope to, which would further reduce the cost of fuel. It's still amazes me and how some of the short trips cost virtually nothing, where as in my ice car those short trips devastate my fuel economy. Starting up an ice car driving it to the shops about 3 mi away shopping and then starting it up and driving it back all on local streets with lots of traffic lights and stop signs, it's just not fuel efficient at all for an ICE car. That's where my calculations are showing the biggest savings. The medium trips like this one still show pretty good savings, I think longer road trips though where you have to fast charge will probably break even. I haven't done one yet but that's my expectation.

For solar, have you looked into whether your state has a solar credit program? Again in blue state NJ there is a program called renewable energy credits: for every megawatt-hour my panels generate I get $92. Also, there is a 30% tax credit from the feds for the cost of panels (and storage) if you buy it.

 

[Nygman]

There is but I'm limited to how much I can actually get on my roof. I think I can do 5 megawatt hours, which is just not cost effective.

 

[superdave80]

Most of these EV verse ICE comparison costs fail to include hidden costs such as: higher insurance, less treadwear meaning sooner tire replacement, higher tire costs, greater state registration costs. Higher road tripping costs than fuel efficient hybrid/plug in vehicles.....

His original question was, " One thing I like to do is to figure out how much I save every time I drive the car. "

What you are talking about is total cost of ownership, a completely different thing.

 

[Vulnox]

Most of these EV verse ICE comparison costs fail to include hidden costs such as: higher insurance, less treadwear meaning sooner tire replacement, higher tire costs, greater state registration costs. Higher road tripping costs than fuel efficient hybrid/plug in vehicles.....

Insurance cost on the MME is lower than my F-150, it's nearly impossible to 1:1 this so it's not a point in either camp. Tread wear is likely higher, but that's more a function of weight and driving style. Low rolling resistance tires aren't unique to EVs and again poor quality tires on an ICE can also wear at an equal rate.

My state registration is higher because they charge an EV tax in place of the fuel tax, but you still pay this if you have an ICE vehicle, and often pay it if you have a plug-in hybrid. We had to pay the same tax when we had our C-Max Energi. The higher road tripping costs is a bad one too, because it may cost more RIGHT NOW to road trip an EV since gas has fallen so much, but it wasn't the case about 6 months ago, and gas prices are likely to rise again.

There are definite pros/cons, but your list isn't hidden and it isn't consistent between buyers. You could argue that getting a Chevy Bolt with its lower than average new vehicle cost purchase price, tax credit, and lower weight, would mean that a majority of your "hidden costs" are immediately out the window.

It's not that those things are hidden, it's that most people know they are so variable and dependent on location and person that it's pointless to focus on them when making broad comparisons.

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