Information Request
I’ve decided to do another updated cost comparison post (or a few) of electric vehicles and comparable ICE vehicles. For one, I never conducted the comparison with the most competitive EVs on the market (I just used the Ford Focus Electric — first, versus the Ford Focus S, then versus the Ford Focus ST). Also, it was recently announced that the price of the Nissan Leaf was dropping several thousand dollars, so I think it would be interesting to see how that compares to the most similar ICE vehicle. And, last but not least, one trolling commenter had complaints about some of the assumptions that I used in the first post, or that I even put on readers to guess for themselves.
So, I’d like to tap our readers’ knowledge on a few things:
- I’d love your feedback on the gasoline-powered cars most similar to the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi i, smart electric drive, Fiat 500e, and Honda Fit EV.
- I’d love to see the best estimates you’ve got for the price of EV batteries in 8 years (or the price of new batteries minus what you might get for turning in an old battery).
- And I’d love feedback on any other variables used here.
Of course, as before, I’ll be looking around to find what look like the best statistics and arguments for each of the above, but I’m sure some of you will come up with better sources and numbers than I’d find (and may already have them on the tips of your fingers).
With anything you provide, a logical argument for one choice or another is appreciated, but I’m most interested in good studies and facts, natch.
UPDATE (February 22 at 7:18pm EST):
I’ve updated the initial cost comparison spreadsheet. A few notes:
- Maintenance costs were never calculated in the initial spreadsheet. There was a placeholder for them, but perhaps I decided to leave them out of the calculation due to uncertainty with the EV costs. (So, there was an initial benefit to the gasmobiles there.)
A study on the difference in costs was recently published on this matter, so the maintenance costs are now based on that, and included in the calculation.
- Projected battery replacement costs are now included, based on 2020 battery cost projections by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. (They don’t really change much. In the initial comparison, the Ford Focus EV savings at 9 years go from $20,746 to $17,896. Not insignificant, but insignifiant when it comes to which car wins based on price alone.)
- I’ve added a list of my sources to the spreadsheet — on the far right.
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