Is the electricity really cheaper?

I pay $0.11/kwh, and electric is cheaper than gas here.

A full charge is about 6KWH, and on that you can go about 25 miles. So that's $0.77 for a full charge, or $0.031 per mile.

Let's assume you're in Albuquerque and gas is around $2.10 per gallon. If you get 60mpg that's $0.035 per mile.

There are other costs that are hard to account for. Putting cycles on the battery has some cost, since the battery has a finite life. It might last a few thousand cycles and cost a few thousand dollars, so the cost of the battery could approach the cost of fuel. But to get 60mpg you need a hybrid, which needs a battery, but for a non-plug in the batteries are smaller so cheaper. So the marginal cost of wearing out the plug-in battery is hard to account for. And by the time it wears out the rest of the car might be worn out, obsolete, or totaled anyway, so you won't necessarily have to buy a new battery in 10 years.

Driving on gas has the cost of making more pollution where you live. I don't know how to value that but in cities and densely populated areas reducing smog has significant value, and it probably one of the biggest benefits of EVs and plug-in hybrids. Even if your electricity comes mostly from fossil fuels, it's still worth driving an EV to get pollution away from where people live.

Using the engine also puts wear on the engine and other engine-related parts (exhaust, fuel pump, emissions systems, oil, spark plugs, etc.) Most of those things get more wear as you use the engine more, but it's hard to tell how much that costs.

Driving on electricity has the benefit of being way more fun than using gas. A normal Prius would be so boring to drive. The Prime is actually kind of fun in EV mode.

There's a map somewhere that shows if a EV, Plug-in hybrid, or regular hybrid is best, by state. I can't find it again, and I'm not sure what their assumptions are. It said Hybrid is better than EV in Colorado, and I suspect NM would be the same. But it's still not a bad choice to drive a PHEV.

The Prime is also probably not the cheapest form of transportation if you consider all the costs. By my calculations it costs me $0.28 a mile to drive. An old used sedan would be about $0.24 a mile. I think a pure EV was higher, depending on purchase cost. But a new Prime is a lot nicer and more fun than an old sedan.

 

Rule of thumb for PRIME is that if the cost for full charge (6.3-6.7kwh) is less than cost for half gallon of gas in your local, you are saving money by driving EV.

This assumes, ~25-35 miles of EV range and 50-70 mpg for gas. As you can see, full charge of EV range is roughly half the range 1 gallon of gas can run PRIME. So, in your case 12.83 cents per kWh, and say gas price $2.50 per gallon now. For full charge, 6.5 times 12.83= ~$0.84 for electricity. Half gallon of gas is $1.25. EV cost less to go the same distance by ~30%. There is nice table somewhere in PC for break even point for given cost of electricity and gas, but I can't find a link now.

EDIT: I found the chart in this thread.
Gas or electric where is the break Even Point | PriusChat

 

welcome! you're saving plenty at 13cents/kwh. i pay 24cents, and that's about breakeven with $3. gas
did you buy prime to save money or the world?

 

is new mexico a great place for solar panels?

 

6.3kWh gives you 25-30 miles range. In your case, it is 3.2-2.4 cents per mile. At 54mpg, it equals $1.7/gal gas price.

 

It all depends on where you live and the cost per KwH of electricity.

I had a guy all gunho about his Plug in Prius until he found out what the real cost was. He lives outside of San Diego in Carlsbad and found out that he has progressive electric rates. The car if plugged in jumped the amount of electricity he used at home up into the stratosphere as far as his rates went. It was something around.12-13 per KwH per so many KwH per month. Once you surpassed that base limit the rates jumped up to .25-.30 per KwH on everything he used over and above that base limit. He told his wife don't you dare plug that car in at home, use the companies charger at work.

 

Same here with PG&E, my charging price is 28c/kWh, that equals 7 cents per miles, and gas price is $3.3/gal which is 6 cents per mile. It is actually cheaper to use gas, thanks to stupid PG&E.

Fortunately I installed the solar panel. PG&E price is every rising due to the law suites every year.

 

A number of electric utilities have separate rate schedules for electric car charging. Customers afflicted with these punitive tiered structures such as above, should check into the local electric rate choices for something better for BEVs.

 

Maybe folks need to check their total monthly electrical usage and not just “blame” the car?

I just reviewed my electric bills for the past 12 months and I had one month with less than 500kWh, and one month (summer a/c) with 1020kWh usage. Looks like the average is about 600kWh. Granted, we use natural gas for heating, hot water and cooking.

 

I guess if you go to a full-electric vehicle it's a whole 'nother story, once you drop-kick the engine off the end of the driveway: a lot of maintenance expenses/headaches go away.

It hurts just saying that...

 

My utility requires a separate meter installed at customer expense and pay a "Monthly Meter Charge" to get the EV rate. The difference in price for EV rate and "regular" means I'd have to pass about 30,000kWh through the meter before I broke even - charging the Prime from 0% to full every day for over 12 years. That's just to recover the cost of the meter, not including the $385 in meter charges.

 

i guess they were targeting teslas

 

Hi
The cheaper place in North America for electricity is Québec. My cost for full range in electricity is 0,50$ (in canadian dollar)

Bonne journée!

 

I pay 5.4 cents per kwh in Georgia. I go a minimum of 35 miles per charge, which is about a penny a mile

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Less wear and tear on the ICE and brake system and the occasional free charge and you're that much ahead.

 

I find it amazing how much cheaper electric power is in most areas of the country than in California.

 

I'm seeing CDN 5.91 cents/kWh at Hydro-Quebec. So adjusting for exchange rates, his Quebec energy is still cheaper than your Georgia energy.

But just across the Cascade mountains from me, Chelan County has US 2.7 cents, and Douglas County has 2.33 cents/kWh. Which is why the Bitcoin miners converged there.

 

Literally 1/10th the price I pay.

 

I think you're going to be way ahead using electricity at 12.83 cents per kWh. To make the comparison, you also need to know your local cost per gallon for gas and the number of mpg you achieve when driving in HV-only mode (nominally about 50 mpg for the Prime.)

I am in a state with a much higher residential electric rate of 20.9 cents per kWh and regular gas selling for about $2.80 per gallon. For me, the cost of electric vs gasoline driving is pretty much a toss-up. See my earlier PriusChat post for how I did the calculation.

For a state-by-state look at average electric energy costs, see:the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Note that these figures are state-wide and local energy rates may vary.