My year with the Volt. Costs and Comparisons

Since that is such a large amount, it's a good thing to know.

Thanks!

 

You will be happy to know that in the 2012 it may have improved a bit. I typically register 12kWh to restore 10.4kWh. Sometimes more if I do pre-conditioning.

 

I gave you a LIKE in addition to a THANKS and that's the response... Please start over.

When calculating values like cost-per-mile, you must know how much total electricity it took, not just consumption while driving.

And I don't place a lot of interest on MPGe either. People in general don't understand the influencing factors or even have a decent perspective to leverage from. It's all new to them, so it doesn't mean much beyond being higher or lower than others.

 

Do you preheat with electricity from the plug?

 

Great Write-up! Thanks!

 

I will pre-condition the cabin while plugged in, particularly if I think I am going to push the ev range. I don't pay by the kWh, just a flat rate for the month, so the extra few watts or so gets me another few miles, albeit at the expense of MPGe.

 

You need to move to Texas! TXU has a "free nights" rate plan now. I think that is helping Telsa sales in Houston even though it is the center of the Petroleum world.

 

Another electricity question if I may... how good have your charging-stations experiences been?

I've seen a few ICE'd spots. That's very irritating. But what I really to know about is how the parking situation works with sharing. There are chargers with 2 spots around here, intended for level-1 and level-2 at the same time. I can't imagine that actually happening much. But I do envision the "ok to unplug when done" situation coming up more often as the plug-in population increases, especially when some pay-to-use spots allow you to remain parked there for up to 8 hours. Have you ever seen or done that?

I could imagine some people being hesitent even with a note giving permission, especially knowing the owner could get a text-message or email informing them moments after it happens.

 

My annual mileage is about 12,000 miles now. I used to do 30,000 before telecommuting. I only had my PiP for 79 days so let me do calculation based on that.

My electricity rate: $0.22 per kWh (without the base service charge, 32 cents per kWh with it)
My gasoline: $3.70 per gallon (I filled up in both NJ and NY)



Adding 15% charging loss to 240 kWh = 276 kWh consumed from the wall. Electricity cost is $60.72.

Gas cost is 29 gallons x $3.70 = $107.3.

My total fuel cost = $168.02 so it came out to 6.43 cents per mile.
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If Voltdriver pays the same fuel prices as me, his cost per mile would be 6.94 cents per mile. Electricity would cost him $1,359.82 and $72.89 for gas for a total of $1,432.71.

 

Volt is probably the best car for Voltdriver. His electricity rates are very low (and slightly cleaner than national average) and he is able to take advantage of it with 97% EV ratio (by skipping 1,000 mile vacation trip). EPA uses 12 cents per kWh to calculate cost on the Monroney sticker so I think that's the average cost. In the states with cleaner electricity (CA and NY), the rates are about double the national average. Volt is rated to emit 240 gram of CO2 per mile in Raleigh, NC.

PiP is the best plugin car for me due to the nature of my driving, charging pattern and the efficiency of both fuels. PiP is rated 190 gram of CO2 per mile here.

If I have a Volt and get 97% EV, electricity would cost me $173 (@31kWh/100mi) and gas would cost me $8 (@36MPG). My cost of driving would come out to 6.9 cents per mile.

Let's not forget that we are comparing a midsize to a compact and midsize costs less to operate (for me).

 

The suggestion to include charging losses is a good one. my previous data (from my LEAF) are from the (potentially questionable) CARWINGS data, NOT from a meter. so i suspect my actual LEAF cost is ~20% more than I previously reported.

It will always be very difficult to have an apples-to-apples for these types of cars. With gas cars all it took was a little care at the pump to be consistent and write down the right numbers. It seems very few people have accurate meters on their own EVSEs (I don't...) so we have to understand that uncertainty.

 

Thanks for that - I'm glad at least Onstar gets the right number recorded (CARWINGS doesn't account for efficiency and I suspect preheating doesn't get counted either (i'm still researching that))

I'd like to thank you again for posting your data (and putting up with skeptics) as I think it helps build an understanding of the options (PHEV, EREV, BEV, or other) that exist as they function in individual cases.