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How much you would save depends on how much you drive every month. The more miles you put on the more you would save with an electric car. For example, if you only drove 100 miles a month a gasoline car might cost you 10 gallons of gas, or about $ 40.00. But if you drove 1,000 miles per month the same car would use 100 gallons of gas, or about $400 in gas. (we are using a 10 mpg car for sake of discussion.)
Now, if you had an electric car you would only be saving $40 a month in the first example, but $400 a month in the second example. But you have to factor in the initial cost of the electric car, and they ain't cheap, and you will be using a small amount of electricity to charge the batteries occasionally.
I would love to have an electric car, I only drive about 8 miles a day on average and one would be perfect for me. But the high initial cost to buy one would take me years and years to get to the point where I would be saving any money.
I would love to have an electric car, I only drive about 8 miles a day on average and one would be perfect for me. But the high initial cost to buy one would take me years and years to get to the point where I would be saving any money.
Don
Again, if you are going to buy a new car anyway, a $199/month leas on a Leaf can save you money right off the bat. If you're making payments on a used car now, you can also save money by trading it in on a new electric car. I did that for my Volt.
My '06 Mustang was $18k. I financed it at 1.9% interest and was costing me $300 a month. For a few bucks more per month, I am leasing the Volt, and my fuel bill (from a 14mpg commute) went away, and I'm only paying about $8 a month in electricity to run the car. While the initial car cost more, the monthly cost went down (and I'd only lease this new tech anyhow as it will probably be obsolete by the time the lease is up, and I'm not sure I'd want to own this new tech out of the B2B warranty. BAttery warranty is 10 years, but the rest of the car isn't).
The benefits will also vary depending on where you live and other personal circumstances. We have a Leaf that my wife uses to commute about 25 miles each way. Her workplace has reserved parking and when she requested a spot by an outlet so she can charge at work, they were happy to accommodate her. We also live near Hermosa Beach and often drive down there to eat and enjoy the beach. In Hermosa, electric cars can park at metered spots for free.
Unfortunately, LAX recently got rid of one of our favorite perks, which was free parking at the terminal.
To be honest though, with all the talk about saving money, I think the best thing about it is never having to think about filling up. We have another car that we use if range is going to be an issue, so we only ever take the Leaf when we're 100% sure that our round trip will be less than 50 miles, which is about 90% of our trips, even on weekends. It's become second nature to just plug in the car when we get home that we never really worry about range when we take it out. I drive it almost exclusively on the weekends and can't remember the last time I looked at the remaining range when out driving.
To be honest though, with all the talk about saving money, I think the best thing about it is never having to think about filling up. We have another car that we use if range is going to be an issue, so we only ever take the Leaf when we're 100% sure that our round trip will be less than 50 miles, which is about 90% of our trips, even on weekends. It's become second nature to just plug in the car when we get home that we never really worry about range when we take it out. I drive it almost exclusively on the weekends and can't remember the last time I looked at the remaining range when out driving.
This is definitely a factor. I love plugging the car in when I get home at night and having a "full tank" every morning when I go out to the car. Most people's trips/commute/errands are well within the average EVs range, and after using one for a bit, you almost totally get over the "range anxiety."
I love only spending $8/month on electricity to drive every day.
But you did have to show off how little you spent on your car. A competition to show how little you spend is as stupid as a competition to show how MUCH you spend. It's the flipside of the same love of money, but hoarding it instead of spending it.
And trust me, buying a Leaf or Volt or electric Focus or electric Fit is not showing off how much you can spend, either.
As was said, you have to compare apples to apples. If you're going to buy a new(er) car anyhow, a new EV can save you money, even one that has a slightly higher buy-in price. Insurance costs can go down, maintenence costs go down, fuel costs go down.
I spend about $8 a month to "fuel" my Volt to commute every day and run errands around town. I only charge at home, overnight. It won't have brake replacement or oil changes for years. The monthly payment is about the same as the 2006 Mustang GT I replaced. Had I bought a Leaf, my maintenance costs would have been even lower (I just didn't care for the looks of the Leaf in and out vs the Volt, and I personally wanted the extended range of the onboard gas generator to make occasional longer road trips). As was mentioned, the battery packs are warranted these days for 100k miles, and have been proven to go much longer than that, with replacement costs (if necessary) 10 years out at about the same as doing a full engine rebuild on a similar mileage gasoline engine car.
True. But that doesn't mean you want to spend more money for the same thing necessarily just because it just runs on electricity rather than gas. Nothing wrong with wanted to spend an extra $20,000 to buy a Volt instead of the rather similar $20,000 Cruze Eco, if that's what you want. You get some whiz bang features and get to be an early adopter of an electric-powered Cruze. My thinking is that that's rad and all, but I don't want to spend $20,000 on it. Of course, depending where you live Sam is picking up half of that. And that I do actually have an issue with, but I'd never fault someone for taking advantage of a tax loophole. There's just a lot of cars I'd rather have than a hybrid-drive Cruze for $40k even if it meant spending an extra $40/week buying gas instead of electricity. I'd still give it a few years for prices to drop and range/charging to improve. It'll get close enough eventually that they'll be cost competitive with gas cars.
And by the way, I'd still change your oil once a year rather than going six years assuming the oils fine just because you're doing 95% of your driving on electric alone.
First of all, electric wheels are NOT in my future - at least anytime in the near future. But it's not just as simple as saying that.
I don't care what people say about miles per gallon, reliability, purchase price, etc. I care about the total cost of ownership. Sometimes the most fuel efficient cars have the highest total cost of ownership.
Then to complicate matters more, there are people such as my wife and me, who don't put many miles on our vehicles. Her office is 1/2 mile from our house, and my shop is 5 minutes away. I ride my motorcycle a lot, and if we're going any great distance, we either rent an economy car or fly. That's why she puts less than 4,000 miles per year on her car, and it doesn't really matter if I drive an older 4x4 truck. We burn about $100 worth of gas per month, TOTAL.
Could I afford a new Volt, or Tesla, or Focus E? Yes, easily. But I won't be buying any of those cars, because I don't want to. And I don't want to, because all of them would be a huge waste of money for me. I'd rather invest my money in other things.
I don't play golf and I dont need a street legal golf car which is all the 'smart" car is
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