Cost to drive EV per state NYT Shared Article

[music_cities]

This i not my actual travel experience. I did a 4400 mile round trip from MA to TX last year; I calculated the "fuel" costs using mostly Tesla fast charging, with some free hotel charging, cost me the same as if I had driven a 40 mpg gas car. Everyone misses the "free" charging you can get depending on where you stay when calculating costs. https://www.macheforum.com/site/thr...a-charging-sessions-road-trip-to-texas.35176/

I stayed at the expensive Historic Davenport Hotel in Spokane because it had free charging. Even valet free charging. I always wanted to stay there but in the past I couldn't afford it because I was young and poor. But now that I am no longer young and since they offered free charging, I decided to stay there. It's not the most expensive free charging I've ever had, but it's up there. The other very expensive free charging stops were some very fine restaurants at wineries in Northern California.

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[Trick.Mach-E]

The vast majority of charging across the EV fleet is done at home. Google search says that 80% of EV charging is done at home... for me the percentage is even higher. So even though DCFC can be more expensive than gas, looked at across all the miles driven DCFC is an edge case.

Well then the vast majority pays less when they charge a EV at home. However that doesn't change the fact that fast charging has been shown to be more expensive as shown in the article.

 

[Guss-E 2021]

Interesting post. I used the modifiers too. Still essentially cheaper. However, driving a BEV is about more than money for me. My "driving quality of life" has greatly improved.

 

[PCComf]

Also relevant that they describe “gas car” as 25 mpg and “hybrid car” as 52 mpg for this study.

As they say, your mileage may vary.

Something Mach-E sized in hybrid or gas only is going to get worse mpg than that.

 

[Trick.Mach-E]

That’s still going to depend on state and your definition of “gas car”.

Even if I DC charge only on my state it is still cheaper than driving my comparable ICE sized vehicle.

Which it has little modifiers to slide for your exact situation.

There will always be factors that change the numbers. The article was pretty detailed on costs and depending where you are and how you charge is interesting and it follows a familiar pattern.

Gas in CA is more than TX. Electric rates are more in NV than AR.

From my own experience I found that taking a plug-in hybrid from the CA Central Coast to San Antonio, TX back on 11/2019 was cheaper than taking our FE on the same trip on 09/2021. And then both the cost of gas for the plug-in AND charging for the EV was less than taking a 2013 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor on the same trip! Even towing the plug-in on a flatbed trailer with a F-250 Super Duty Diesel (one way) was cheaper than the Raptor on the same trip.

I forgot to add we did take our FE on a 2nd trip to San Antonio after several charging updates (and with BlueCruise fully enabled) and it was slightly more than our 09/2021 trip with the cost to fast charge going down as we headed east from CA to TX.

 

[ChrisO]

For me it costs .30 per kWh for off peak (note this neglects charger loss). I would say we get about 4 miles per kWh with mostly city driving and a small amount of highway driving. Using 100 miles that is $7.5. Gas at Costco is $3.99 per gallon (which is sometimes .25 or more cheaper than other places) means that an ICE or hybrid would only have to get about 25 miles per gallon to match it. Note if I was crazy enough to charge at peak times that would be .49 per kWh.

For a trip it is more like 3 miles per kWh. And using a typical EA rate of .62 (I know Teslas are cheaper but I forget their rates) that is $20.67 for 100 miles. I think about the highest gas price is around $5 so I’m going to use that. The ICE car or hybrid would only have to get slightly less than 25 miles per gallon to match that cost.

I certainly don’t drive an EV for the cost savings.

 

[GJTBOW]

I think if a person lived in a busy city like Toronto and charged at a public station and only commuted in the city for the most part —I think the EV will be cheaper than gas. That person may only have to public charge twice a month (just guessing) from my experience driving EV in the city with stop and go regen saves a lot of battery charge —gas vehicles mileage will deplete by double or more in a city driving scenario.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

I've not read the article (yet), but in the discussion here so far I've seen no mention of the fact that if you have rooftop solar, your charging costs are a very different matter. Yes, the cost of adding solar is an important factor, and yes, summarizing it in some fashion would be very difficult given the range of ways people fund solar (capital purchase, lease, lease to own, etc.). But regardless, it is an important factor.

And then there are situations like mine where prior to owning the Mach E our annual household needs were pretty much 100% met by our rooftop solar, so I can get a decent estimate of my home charging costs simply by looking at my annual true-up (i.e., the net of my electrical usage pulling from the grid, vs. what the system pushes onto the grid).

I drive about 7.2K miles/year in the Mach E. My annual true-up cost this year was about $466. Add to that about $100/year for roadtrip DCFC and my cost per mile is ~$0.08. Compared to an ICE vehicle that gets 30 mpg, my break-even cost per gallon would be $2.40. Considering gas is over double there here right now, I'd say I'm doing well. (I'll admit this calculation seems overly rosy, so it's likely that one of my estimates is incorrect, but overall I think it tells a useful story.)

 

[ChrisO]

I've not read the article (yet), but in the discussion here so far I've seen no mention of the fact that if you have rooftop solar, your charging costs are a very different matter. Yes, the cost of adding solar is an important factor, and yes, summarizing it in some fashion would be very difficult given the range of ways people fund solar (capital purchase, lease, lease to own, etc.). But regardless, it is an important factor.

And then there are situations like mine where prior to owning the Mach E our annual household needs were pretty much 100% met by our rooftop solar, so I can get a decent estimate of my home charging costs simply by looking at my annual true-up (i.e., the net of my electrical usage pulling from the grid, vs. what the system pushes onto the grid).

I drive about 7.2K miles/year in the Mach E. My annual true-up cost this year was about $466. Add to that about $100/year for roadtrip DCFC and my cost per mile is ~$0.08. Compared to an ICE vehicle that gets 30 mpg, my break-even cost per gallon would be $2.40. Considering gas is over double there here right now, I'd say I'm doing well. (I'll admit this calculation seems overly rosy, so it's likely that one of my estimates is incorrect, but overall I think it tells a useful story.)

If I could put solar on our roof I would do it in a heartbeat, but we live in a townhouse that doesn’t allow it. The cost of electricity is only going to go up.

 

[Ruthie B]

My home charging cost .09 kwh during "off peak" hours ( 7 pm - 6 am ) and .14 kwh during daytime "on peak" hours. I believe I can drive 240-250 miles for about $5.25 and I'm confident I get better than 100 miles for $5.25 like the chart shows. Never used public charging until I take my first trip.

 

[Space_Pony]

I didn't see the cost of installing solar as part of the cost for using solar.

 

[MacherAWD]

I've not read the article (yet), but in the discussion here so far I've seen no mention of the fact that if you have rooftop solar, your charging costs are a very different matter. Yes, the cost of adding solar is an important factor, and yes, summarizing it in some fashion would be very difficult given the range of ways people fund solar (capital purchase, lease, lease to own, etc.). But regardless, it is an important factor.

And then there are situations like mine where prior to owning the Mach E our annual household needs were pretty much 100% met by our rooftop solar, so I can get a decent estimate of my home charging costs simply by looking at my annual true-up (i.e., the net of my electrical usage pulling from the grid, vs. what the system pushes onto the grid).

I drive about 7.2K miles/year in the Mach E. My annual true-up cost this year was about $466. Add to that about $100/year for roadtrip DCFC and my cost per mile is ~$0.08. Compared to an ICE vehicle that gets 30 mpg, my break-even cost per gallon would be $2.40. Considering gas is over double there here right now, I'd say I'm doing well. (I'll admit this calculation seems overly rosy, so it's likely that one of my estimates is incorrect, but overall I think it tells a useful story.)

Same boat, 10 years of EV ownership, 150k EV miles, 90% was covered by EXCESS solar production from a fully paid for system.

 

[MacherAWD]

I didn't see the cost of installing solar as part of the cost for using solar.

My total out of Pocket, $32k was fully returned to me in 4.5years, I am now over $20k ahead on solar.

 

[ChrisO]

I didn't see the cost of installing solar as part of the cost for using solar.

That would be hard really price out because most people install solar for more than charging an EV.

 

[RickMachE]

For me it costs .30 per kWh for off peak (note this neglects charger loss). I would say we get about 4 miles per kWh with mostly city driving and a small amount of highway driving. Using 100 miles that is $7.5. Gas at Costco is $3.99 per gallon (which is sometimes .25 or more cheaper than other places) means that an ICE or hybrid would only have to get about 25 miles per gallon to match it. Note if I was crazy enough to charge at peak times that would be .49 per kWh.

For a trip it is more like 3 miles per kWh. And using a typical EA rate of .62 (I know Teslas are cheaper but I forget their rates) that is $20.67 for 100 miles. I think about the highest gas price is around $5 so I’m going to use that. The ICE car or hybrid would only have to get slightly less than 25 miles per gallon to match that cost.

I certainly don’t drive an EV for the cost savings.

The most EA charges is 64 cents, plus tax. With membership, that would be 48 cents plus tax, much lower than 62 cents. Tesla, with membership, is often in the 30s.

There is a Shell gas station around the corner. In 18 years of living here, haven't bought a gallon of gas from them. They are currently $3.39 a gallon, and there are always cars there. Costco is currently $2.79 a gallon. Some people don't care about money.

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