Is Electricity Really More Cost Efficient Than Gas?

You've gotta do your own research - sometimes that means you have to buy one and see what happens after the fact.

There's a lot of special interest trying to muddy the waters too. I was fed a news article yesterday where the author described how terrible it was to drive an EV. He started off by saying he didn't have any charging equipment at home, then described how inconvenient the public charging networks are. (Yeah, I'll concede the point that if you don't have access to home charging, or are taking long road trips the public charging networks are hit or miss...)

There seems to be a concerted effort by some parties that keep trying to tell us that EVs are going to suck. I'm thinking it's the oil and gas companies, as well as legacy car manufacturers that don't want to spend on developing EVs. They're probably taking their plays from the big tobacco guys from the '80s (the ones that haven't died off yet).

As to cost efficient - that's a complex calculation. Especially since electricity rates seem to be nebulous - depending on the time of day, the electric company...

I do know that the efficiency of a gasoline engine is pretty poor (around 35%), where EVs are a lot less inefficient (say 89% Electric Vehicles Are Way, Way More Energy-Efficient Than Internal Combustion Vehicles (motortrend.com))

Practically, we struggle to see what impact our Prime has had on our electric bill (and my wife uses the full 25 miles of EV it gives during the weekdays). But that's where I live, how I charge, and what my driving situation is.

 

If I wanted to buy a car to save money it would be something that goes up in value. FJ40? I spend on the Prime to save peanut money day by day, but mainly because I enjoy getting free charging and like the idea of putzing around in an electric car. Others buy boat haulers and boats on payments, and thoroughly enjoy that life style.
Actually when I bought this 20 Prime used, regular non Primes were more money for some reason. Maybe it’s that extreme rear hatch, which I don’t mind anymore.