This didn't speak much to me. My car, a 2.3L automatic-transmission Mazda3, gets decent gas mileage. Nothing to brag about at 27mpg average, but that isn't terrible. Would getting an electric car actually be cheaper? I plugged some numbers using my all time favorite tool, Excel.
Let's define some constants. Leaf data lifted from Nissan.
- I drive, on average, 5,200 miles per year.
- Gas is stuck at $2.50/gallon.
- Electricity, where I presently live, is stuck at $0.08/kWh
- My car has a 14 gallon gas tank and gets 27 miles per gallon.
- The Leaf requires 26.4 kWh of power to charge (note that the battery capacity is 24 kWh, but apparently requires an additional 2.4kWh to charge).
I used very conservative estimates from both cars. My car can "supposedly" get (14 gallons * 27 miles per gallon) 378 miles out of a tank. The Nissan Leaf can "supposedly" get 138 miles to a tank. This means that I would refuel my car (5,200 / 378) 13.76 times per year. This is hardly the case, but it is a conservative estimate. The Leaf, at the supposed 138 range would need refueled (5,200 / 138) 37.68 times.
With these ideal situations,
- My car would cost (13.76 tanks/year * (14 gallon fuel tank * $2.50 gas price)) $481.48 per year
- The Leaf would cost (37.68 charges/year * (26.4 kWh * $0.08/kWh)) $79.58.
This LOOKS promising. However, the Leaf has a proprietary charging station that costs $2,000. You would have to won the car for 5 years to make up the difference. And that assumes that you're already in the market for a car of similar value! And of course this all gets jiggled around when the cost of fuels change. This site offers a good application to compare costs.
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