| Energy Costs of an EV |
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| Written by jonR |
| Tuesday, 18 November 2008 00:00 |
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How do you feel about paying $1.44/gallon of gasoline? Right now, with gasoline prices about $2.00, it does not seem like that huge savings, but when you consider gas going back up to $4/gal, paying $1.44 is an incredible deal. Well, according to our calculations, that is the equivalent cost for an electric car paying $0.08/kWh for electricity. Electricity costs do not go up and down very often. They are not related to wars in other countries. Electricity profits local companies. Electricity can come from renewable energy sources (gasoline cannot). Part of the reason there is so much difference in the cost of electricity and gasoline is because electric motors are about 3 times as efficient as gasoline engines. The theoretical maximum efficiency limit of a gasoline engine is about 35% (depends on a lot of factors); most engines are less. It is common for electric motors to be up to 95% efficient at converting electricity into motion. If you use a more efficient AC motor (higher cost) and use regenerative braking (has to be the more expensive AC motor), you might be able to get that cost down to about $1/gal of gasoline, equivalent. If you bought solar panels (very expensive), you could possible get $0.90/gal of gasoline, equivalent. And if you talk your workplace into installing an outlet for charging, you would get half your commute for free, and probably a better parking spot. :) The point is, electricity is cheaper than gasoline. |
| Last Updated on Monday, 24 November 2008 11:29 |
