In the world of rising electric vehicles, there is a lot of blemish in regards to these new vehicles that rely heavily upon software. With gas prices up over 58% compared to last year, you might be inclined to switch to an electric car, in order to save money. But how much can you expect to save?
Considering that the average electric vehicle purchase transaction amounts to $56,437 (according to Kelley Blue Book), the expectations for such a vehicle also come in high. You expect a reliable vehicle with a plethora of intelligent systems while abandoning frequent trips to the mechanic, due to weak spark plugs, oil changes, etc. Also, charging your electric vehicle has proven to be more efficient both for the environment, as well as your pocket, compared to tanking up the petrol. But how efficient are we talking?
How much will I spend charging an electric vehicle?
John Voelcker, a career journalist from the automotive industry, simplifies the math by following:
“A conservative rule of thumb is that an electric car gets 3 to 4 miles per kWh. […] So divide the total miles you drive each month by 3, to get the kWh you would use monthly. Multiply that number by your cost per kWh. The dollar amount you get will most likely be lower than what you pay each month to buy gasoline.”
So, in order to calculate how much your monthly electric vehicle consumption, you need to know the following:
- average monthly km range that you cover
- the efficiency of the potential vehicle you’re looking to buy, its kWh per 100km
- local electricity costs – cost per kWh
We’ll add an example using the metric system. Let’s say that you cover 1000km in a month with your car. For those 1000 kilometers, you’ve used a total of 200 kWh (a reasonable average expenditure is 5 kilometers per kWh). If you’re using a home charger or thinking of installing one, all you need to do is the following – look at your electrical bill. How much is electricity in your area?
If we take the European average kWh price from 2020, which is €0.21, and multiply that by 200 kWh that we used during a month, we get – €42. For a diesel vehicle that averages out to 10 liters per 100km (this is highly variable), that means we will need 100 liters. With current diesel prices as high as €2 per liter, that comes out to €200. That is almost five times the cost of what electric vehicle consumption takes! Now you can optimize that even further if you have a home charger, and if you decide to charge at night (in some countries, electricity is cheaper at night). Either way, your wallet is not going to twitch every time you need to charge.
Final Words
EVs are less expensive to recharge at home than comparable gasoline cars, but that doesn’t mean they’re immediately cheaper to own. At the moment, the additional cost of purchasing an EV and installing home-charging equipment doesn’t make a quick payout a sure bet. Charging an EV may result in a significant increase in your energy bill, but it is usually much less expensive than filling a gasoline-powered vehicle. According to the Department of Energy, driving an EV costs about half as much as driving a comparable gas car. Go to our website for more information about the electric vehicle world!
