Cost of Fuel Equivalent

[suwaneedad]

My old SUV got 9 mpg city/13 highway on premium. This was the car I was driving when I first test drove a Tesla in 2013. At the time, gas was about $4/gallon. We pay $.08 per kWh in winter and $0.12 for two months in summer. Going to an EV saved us almost $5k a year. My friend has the EV rate from Georgia Power and pays $0.015 per kWh from midnight to 7am.

Your friend needs to add in the nickel per kWh of add-ons from Georgia Power as well, regardless of when charging occurs...nuke construction fee, environmental fee, yada yada there is no escaping those charges and they add up to a nickel per kWh regardless of what time of day he charges residentially with Georgia Power.

 

[suwaneedad]

Wow. If I charge during Off-Peak hours, which I always do, my rate is $0.0588 per kWh... Yep only 6¢ per kWh !!

Same over here in Georgia...maybe Southern Company sent the same rate case support to the regulators in Georgia and Mississippi.
Penny and a half per mile (assuming 10% line loss between meter and vehicle).
~143mi per gallon at ~$2.40 gasoline.
~6x a 25mpg ICE vehicle.

What's surprised me lately is when I've rented cars like Camrys the damn things are achieving ~40mpg these days without even trying!
Granted, they are underpowered, so are not equivalent to a Tesla, but they do have me rethinking my usual 25mpg ICE comparison when people ask me about fuel savings with a Model 3.

My go-to response is "2 cents a mile, so 120mpg at $2.40 gasoline."
The "120mpg" part is what ICE owners can quickly relate to, and their jaws uniformly fall to the ground.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

For the OP here, with his current rate, he can say:

"9 cents per mile, so equivalent to 33 mpg at $3.00/gal gasoline"

(3 mi/kWh (330Wh/mi), so 330Wh/mi * 27 cents/kWh = 9 cents per mile)

Important to get that rate down, for sure!

 

[ralph142]

T3MR model, averaging 290 wh/mi for the last week including a single 600 mile rt. Home charging is .08/kwh, superchargers on the rt were running .27/kw. The long road trip was all SC and cost $37.04 or 137 kwh for 600 miles. So 228 wh/mi, or $.06/mi. My 1999 accord still gets ~35 mpg so ~17 gallons @ 3.50/gal (regular) = $60 or $.10 per mile. 40% savings. The same mileage at home charging rates = .018/mi, or figuring 15% loss from meter to battery =$.021/mi.

 

[Dana1]

In TN I pay $.095/kWh and gas is $2.35. A Camry at 32 MPG is $.074/mile. My 3 is $.024 or about 1/3 the cost. Against a BMW it is not even close.

My BMW X6 was $0.13/mile vs M3 at $0.023. That’s without any maintenance items.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

My BMW X6 was $0.13/mile vs M3 at $0.023. That’s without any maintenance items.

It's so cheap to have a LR RWD and a rate of $0.075/kWh! LR RWD is pretty close to 300Wh/mi (for 10k mi/yr) efficiency when getting 230Wh/mi driving; so efficient!

 

[RayK]

I haven't taken the time to figure out what my costs would be if I had to charge the car at home. Have solar and a time-of-use electricity rate plan from PG&E. I've done almost all my charging at work (free 4-hour sessions on L2 ChargePoint stations). I can tell you that I'm at 8,950 miles and have less than $30 of Supercharging fees, courtesy of an apparent gift for the first several months of ownership. During that time I took a road trip to L.A. and back (~800 miles) and was not charged (monetarily).

If I had continued to drive my BMW, a quick estimate would say that I would have spent just over $1000 in gas for those almost 9,000 miles (25 mpg @ $3/gal).

 

[ChrisH]

Yup.

I pay about $2 for 300 miles of range in my Tesla. I used to pay about $35 for the same amount of gas in my Lexus.

This is apparently pretty cheap compared to folks in CA though.

$2? HOW? I pay $7 and our electricity is .10 per kWh

 

[299792458]

When I visit superchargers I pay $0.00 for 300 miles of range

 

[Knightshade]

How are you filling 75kW for $2? Even at commercial rates, it seems quite low. On Peak, we pay about .24 / kWh including supply, delivery and taxes. Off-peak with the right incentive program, it can drop to about .14 / kWh - even at this rate, its more than $10 to fill, before calculating charging efficiency and losses. Are you supplementing your power in some way?

$2? HOW? I pay $7 and our electricity is .10 per kWh

Both answered below

He has some sort of crazy NC cooperative rate where he gets to pay something like 2 cents per kWh for the ~90kWh it takes to charge up his 75kWh battery. I'm sure he'll fill in the details. EVs should be selling like hot cakes over there.

I see quite a few model 3s anymore (and a decent amount of S/X)....


I pay 2.79 cents per kWh 10pm to 5 am... then 6.14 cents from 5 am to 1 pm and again from 6pm to 10 pm in the summer... then 26.42 cents 1pm-6pm summer

In the winter the 2.79 times are the same, but the peak rate is 6am to 10 am... and the 6.14 cent rate is 10 am to 10 pm, and 5am to 6 am.

Weekends and Holdays are 2.79 cents 10pm to 5 am, and 6.14 cents the rest of the day.

So I'm paying either 2.79 cents or 6.14 cents for 19-20 hours a day, or 24/7 on weekends and holidays....and 100% of the time I'm charging the car is the 2.79 rate.


To be fair my $2 math was based on 75kwh... if you want to assume 90 for inefficiency of the 14-50 plug into the Tesla charger then it's just over $2.50.

Still adds up to saving a couple hundred bucks a month compared to gasoline given I drive 75-85 miles on a typical weekday.

When I visit superchargers I pay $0.00 for 300 miles of range

Well, some folks value their time...

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

When I visit superchargers I pay $0.00 for 300 miles of range

Me too, but both times I have visited, I left after about 10 minutes because I couldn’t stand waiting for the car to charge.

 

[pelyon]

Clearly I need to get free charging, switch to a better TOU plan, get solar, and move away from the west coast for a better rate in the South/ South East where cold weather isn't an issue. Thanks all for the shared experience. I'm now armed with more info to convert more ICE drivers to a more enlightened mode of transport.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Clearly I need to get free charging, switch to a better TOU plan, get solar, and move away from the west coast for a better rate in the South/ South East where cold weather isn't an issue. Thanks all for the shared experience. I'm now armed with more info to convert more ICE drivers to a more enlightened mode of transport.

Personally I would just stick to the first three!

 

[vickh]

It's only 0.03 kwh @ night with APS EV plan I believe. This is why I'm considering giving up FUSC with CPO MS.

 

[Snow Drift]

Takes more than 75 kwh running through your meter to charge up a 75kwh battery. Charging losses can be up to 20% in many cases.

I’m using the same formula as the Tesla website to determine the cost of charging.

 

[ChrisH]

Both answered below




I see quite a few model 3s anymore (and a decent amount of S/X)....


I pay 2.79 cents per kWh 10pm to 5 am... then 6.14 cents from 5 am to 1 pm and again from 6pm to 10 pm in the summer... then 26.42 cents 1pm-6pm summer

In the winter the 2.79 times are the same, but the peak rate is 6am to 10 am... and the 6.14 cent rate is 10 am to 10 pm, and 5am to 6 am.

Weekends and Holdays are 2.79 cents 10pm to 5 am, and 6.14 cents the rest of the day.

So I'm paying either 2.79 cents or 6.14 cents for 19-20 hours a day, or 24/7 on weekends and holidays....and 100% of the time I'm charging the car is the 2.79 rate.


To be fair my $2 math was based on 75kwh... if you want to assume 90 for inefficiency of the 14-50 plug into the Tesla charger then it's just over $2.50.

Still adds up to saving a couple hundred bucks a month compared to gasoline given I drive 75-85 miles on a typical weekday.





Well, some folks value their time...

Dang that’s a really sweet electrical plan lol

 

[BrokerDon]

2015 Ludicrous P85D with staggered 21" Michelin Pilot Sport tires on Arachnid rims

Assumptions: Newport Beach, CA

1. cost of gas: $3.95/gal (Premium)
2. cost of electric: $0.13/kWh (SCE Super Off-Peak 10PM-8AM TOU-D-B)
3. kW/mile: 350
4. MPG of gas cars Tesla replaced: 19 MPG (2006 Corvette Z06 and 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4x4 4.7liter V-8 H.O.)

250 mile trip - gas vs. electric

Tesla P85D takes 87.5KwH to drive 250 miles (250 miles x .350kW/mile) x .13 = $11.38 (assuming NO free Supercharging)

Gas car takes 13.15 Gal to drive 250 mi. (250/19) x $3.95 = $51.97

COST per mile Tesla wins 4.5:1 (more like 5:1 since we get free Supercharging)

SMILES per Mile Tesla wins 100:1

 

[chronopc]

Cost per mile is the best way to compare. For me living in CA and charging during off peak it costs me about 3 cents per mile with my Tesla vs. 12 cents per mile when I was driving my old Accord.

 

[afty]

I used Fuelly to track my fuel ups in my previous car, a 2008 Infiniti G35. Lifetime stats for that car:

Avg MPG: 17.6
Avg Price/Gallons: $3.54 (CA premium)
Avg Price/Fuel-up: $53.18
Avg Price/Mile: $0.200

With my Model 3, this cost goes to $0 because of free charging at my work.

 

[ivan801]

Just to add my 2c, I see several of you using power cost estimates of 20 or even 30 cents per kwh. I would say that vast majority of those who live in the USA do not or should not be paying that much. My rate is 10 cents. I get it that in Hawaii the rate is 35+ cents per kWh, but if you live in Hawaii you really should get solar panels installed, sign up for time of use metering, etc.

I just spend a couple of weeks on Oahu, and I was talking to a guy who could not afford to pay for solar upfront, so he signed a solar lease and is paying 15 cents. I get it that there are those who rent, live in an apartment, etc. But those who rent, AND live in the area with very high electric rates only represent a small percentage of Tesla owners. And some of them should still be able to get time of use metering.