Comments on: Electric Car vs Gas Car Cost Calculators

By: kam hagh

kam hagh — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 18:02:00 +0000

awesome !

By: Leon

Leon — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 15:40:00 +0000

The initial cost of the electrical cars a quite cheap compared to regular gas cars and also a little bit cheaper in costs per mile/kilometer.

But you have to remember that with the current batteries, electrical cars still don’t drive nearly as far on a full battery as a regular car drives on a full tank of gasoline.

And at the same time there is far less charging stations around than regular gas stations (depending on where in the world you live)

So you should probally take your driving habbits into considerations to really know how its going to effect your life and your economy.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 03:58:00 +0000

There’s definitely a lot of room for improvement for app hackers to step in and offer something better.

By: Marion Meads

Marion Meads — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 21:28:00 +0000

Perhaps the next generation calculator will let you type in home address and work address. From these basic information, you will also deduce from Google’s map, not only the distance, but elevation and traffic by time of your commute and day of the week. Info is available from google. It can all be factored in to the type of car used, especially the gas idling in the traffic during rush hour commute time.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 19:26:00 +0000

Great points! I always encourage people to put in their own numbers when I publish the comparisons, bcs there’s so much room for variation. But my understanding is that a lot of utilities now offer attractive EV charging rates. And, of course, anywhere with TOU pricing offers some attractive rates for smart owners.

By: Zachary Shahan

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 19:25:00 +0000

Some very good points. Too much emphasis is indeed placed on cost. But that’s the last branch a lot of people cling to to justify not changing to the next tech faster.

By: Marion Meads

Marion Meads — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 16:35:00 +0000

Fuel cost is only one factor that influences my car preference. The feel of the ride is number 1 for me that is why I am not a fan of “tin” box cars, then followed by emissions and environmental impact, then by patriotism, cost of fuel and other minor factors.

This is complicated by the fact that you will not justify the cost of the car by savings in fuel. How will you justify alloy wheels, sun-roof, leather seats and other options with the savings in fuel? How will you calculate the value of the joy of instant torque, the generally silent ride, the way it can turn on a dime, and other quirks of your personal liking?

The total cost of your car can be recovered several times over by savings in taxes if you use it for business and charge by the standard mileage when using an EV or plug-in EV, it is a lop-sided calculation.

By: Mark Harnett

Mark Harnett — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 15:14:00 +0000

Very interesting spreadsheet. The $0.12 /kWh cost for electricity is pretty conservative. If you charge at night with PG&E in California, it drops to $0.05.

Another big advantage of PG&E electric car rate tariff (E9), is that you can get a huge multiplier effect if you combine it with solar panels and Net Metering. With Net Metering on a normal tariff you make $0.35/kWh during the day while exporting your power, and then pay $0.10/kWh at night. This gives you a 3.5x multiplier on your production. With the E9 rate, this goes to $0.35/kWH in the day to $0.05 kWh at night for a 7 Times multiplier. The net effect here is that buying an electric car combined with Solar Net Metering saves you even more money each year.