This is absolutely stupid. The only way you’re spending more on EV charging is if you get the most expensive at-home charger with the most expensive professional installation, and then never use it because you only charge at the most expensive level-3 chargers. I almost exclusively charge my Bolt for free, but even when I pay for the electricity it’s the cost equivalent of getting 120-150 mpg. The level-3 chargers like Electrify America come out to be in the same ballpark as gas in terms of cost per mile, maybe even a little more… But you’d have to use them to ridiculous excess for the overall cost of driving to even approach ICE vehicles.
I’m not reading further down the line to see but did anyone notice the pic used in this post to show someone not understanding where their fuel door is? Back out and back in correctly and pump gas like a normal human being.
That’s a Costco, they specificially tell you to use any lane and the hose is long enough to reach. That person is just following directions. The stations are built with one way traffic flow and get very busy, it’s not practical to queue for a particular side of the car.
MOST cars have the fuel door on the left, Costco tends to have more cars queue in the lanes that match up with the left hand fuel door so regardless of what side your fuel door is on grab the lanes with the pump on the right of your car and you’ll get through a bit faster since you can pull it around.
If you have a Rivian R1T or GMC Hummer, the cost to charge at home isn’t much different; it’s about $17.70 per 100 miles.
Assuming the manufacturers claims are accurate (which is a big assumtion I know) that R1T, at the current US average electricity price of $16.14 per kWh, is $7.26/100mi.
I think a lot of this depends on where and when you get these numbers. For example, there’s a wider disparity between BC and Alberta because electricity is cheaper in BC while gas is more expensive.
Also, are we talking rapid charging stations or home charging a few times a week, because of course the commercial charging stations cost more, but some people may not need to use those except on some longer trips
The R1T description says the lowest battery size is 105 kWh with a range of 230 miles. This would give a “miles per kilowatt-hour” of 2.19 miles / kWh. Using the national average electricity price of $0.170 per kWh, the cost per mile is ($0.170/kWh) / (2.19 miles/kWh) = $0.0776/mile.
Using a Honda Ridgeline for gas equivalence, it has a combined 22 miles per gallon rating. With a national gasoline price average of $3.803 per gallon, the cost per mile is ($3.803/gallon) / (22 miles/gallon) = $0.172/mile.
So by these calculations the electric option is a little less than half the price of a gasoline equivalent. Perhaps charging the R1T in public with a premium, such as with superchargers, the cost per kWh may go up, but that’s a disingenuous comparison so I agree with you that the article is making some big assumptions.
Well this article just isn’t right at all
I drive an entry level EV (Hyundai Kona) that advertises 4mi/kWh, which is roughly accurate (2-3 in the winter, 5-7 in the summer). That’s 25 kWh for 100 miles.
Average cost of electricity in the US is, according to a quick Google, somewhere between $.15 and $.25 per kWh; where I live it’s a steeper $.33.
Therefore, depending on where I charge, I’m paying anywhere between $3.75 and $8.25 to drive 100 miles–$1.50 short of the article’s published $9.78 even with my expensive power.
In reality, though, I pay nothing–my office offers free charging. Show me an office with free gas.
If we are talking just filling up - I went from $200/month with gasoline to $15-20/ month with my ev and charging at home. Obviously YMMV
