Comments on: Cost to Run a Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electric Vehicle: $233 a Year; $0.82 a Gallon

By: Chance to Win a $200 Whole Foods Gift Certificate & More, Courtesy Mitsubishi i | Planetsave

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 22:22:23 +0000

[…] the i-MiEV several times over on sister site CleanTechnica in recent months, if you want to learn more of the […]

By: $200 Whole Foods Gift Card (& More) Giveaway, Courtesy the Mitsubishi i - CleanTechnica

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:29:35 +0000

[…] But, before letting you know how to enter the giveaway, here’s a little more info on the Mitsubishi i (which. we’ve. covered. several. times. now.): […]

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:25:00 +0000

Agreed

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:41:00 +0000

In general, daytime electricity is more valuable than nighttime/off-peak electricity. If you’ve got solar panels it’s better to use that power to offset expensive peaking power and fuel-based power.

(We should be covering our parking lots with solar panels. But feed that power to the grid.)

When utility companies purchase power on the wholesale market it’s common to pay several times more for daytime/peak power than for off-peak power. Because of that some utilities have gone to TOU (time of use) billing in which customers are charged more for power used during peak hours and often considerably less during off-peak hours. That causes some use to be pushed to off-peak hours and lowers the amount of expensive peak power the utility has to purchase.

Do the charging at night when demand is low, wind often up, and electricity is generally the cheapest.

Lifetime of these EVs? That’s a hard one. We see Toyota Prius(es?) with around 300,000 miles on the odometer and still using the original battery. The Honda Fit EV will be using the Toshiba SCiB lithium-ion battery which is rated at 4,000 cycles. Since the Fit is a 123 mile range EV, that makes the battery life an expected 400,000+ miles.

The BYD e6 has been used for taxi service in China for more than a year. Some of those EVs have piled up more than 100,000 miles with no apparent loss of battery capacity.

Industrial quality electric motors should easily do 300,000 miles. I suspect that these vehicles will be easier on their transmissions and drive trains than ICEVs, but that’s only a guess.

Car companies are generally giving an 8 year, 100,000 mile guarantee on their batteries. But that shouldn’t be taken as an expected life. Remember, it’s common to see 36 month, 30,000 guarantees on gasmobiles and we expect at least 100,000 trouble-free miles out of most.

By: electric

electric — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:20:00 +0000

INSURANCE my friend

By: electric

electric — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 01:16:00 +0000

USA does not see the future.If we don’t lead by example.Then we are in for a big surprise.We are like the movie WATERWORLD SMOKERS.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:17:00 +0000

What would be the cost if solar battery charging was used in conjunction with swappable units?
Why was the charging done at night? Most people drive to work where the car could sit all day under a charging canopy. This also alleviates peak charges from utilities.
What is the expected lifetime of these vehicles?
If they save $200 a month x 12 months = $2,400 a year = $24,000 over 10 years. or x 25 (lifetime of solar unit) = $60,000.

Wouldn’t the extra money saved by the publicly owner rooftop and canopy solar tend to drive the economy forward on an ascending scale?

By: bbei

bbei — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:35:00 +0000

What does this cost cover? Does it take into account the cost of battery replacement? How many charges do the batteries last? What is the cost of one battery replacement?