I drive 12,000 miles on $50 worth of electricity

[tengtengvn]

Welcome to California. If I charge during peak its 54c/kWh. Partial peak is 24c/kWh. And the best rate for me is off peak (the only time I do charge) is at 13.5c/kWh.
And unfortunately this year because of lack of water and little hydro generation, I am using natural gas generated electricity. Those who are on rate plans more aligned to solar can charge during the day and use sun energy.

My base rate in the Bay Area, CA is 26c/kWh for the first 300kW tier. The community where I live doesn't have peak/off-peak rate plan. If I charge the car at home and jump 3-4 tiers, it will cost more to drive compare to an efficient hybrid car.
The SuperChargers around here have the off peak rate of 20c/kWh so it's cheaper to supercharge. Luckily, there're plenty of free chargers around so I haven't been paying to charge the cars.

 

[Silicon Desert]

I know the title comes across as clickbait but hear me out.

I believe the title as some of us can drive 12,000 miles with $0 electricity cost. Ok, I am not comparing apples to apples as Tesla is providing that electricity for free.

 

[marklin]

I know the title comes across as clickbait but hear me out. I get into this argument/debate with an anti EV guy today and we go down all the usual paths; gotta burn fossil fuels to make electricity, high priced cars for rich people, but then he says they aren't any cheaper to operate than a gas car. And I'm like of course they are. But I don't know by how much. I just know they are. I like to debate with facts but I didn't know how to compare how far I can drive vs how far he can drive and turn it into actual easy to understand math.

So I recall that I contributed to a thread a while back on how far a person could drive a Tesla on $43, but we were talking about supercharging, not home charging. I home charge every night, plus I have FUSC, yet I didn't know what it costs me to drive a few hundred miles. The ICE owner knew exactly what he pays to drive a few hundred miles. Well, I decided its time to figure it out once and for all.

I have the GA Power EV rate plan where I pay .01/kWh between 11pm and 7am. This is when I charge my car. 1 cent per kilowatt.

My MX generally travels (as per Teslafi) 2.7 miles per kilowatt. (yeah i know, unusual way of measuring efficiency, but valid nonetheless)
I can purchase 5000 kilowatts for $50 not including charging inefficiencies. (50/.01=5000) Deducting 10% for inefficiencies means I can purchase 4500 kilowatts for $50. (5000-10%=4500) (I think my HPWC is ~94% efficient, but I'm using 10% just so that can't be a semi-valid counter point.)
4500 kilowatts X 2.7 miles = 12,150 miles. Not bad for $50.

So how many miles per gallon would an ICE have to get to travel the same distance at today's gas prices?
Gas here is $3.50/gallon.
So I can purchase 14.3 gallons for $50. (50/3.5=14.3)
12,150 miles/14.3 gallons = 849 miles per gallon (rounded down to avoid debate about tenths of a mpg)

I can drive 12,150 miles on $50, and it would take an ICE getting 849 mpg at today's gas prices to do the same.

Now I'm better armed for my next anti EV conversation. You can also plug in the numbers that pertain to you and see how far you can go on $50. I would be interested to read what the more efficient Teslas can do on $50, albiet at maybe a higher electricity cost.

You are paying much more than .01/kWh with GA Power EV rate plan. Electric power bill is like medical bill, it is more complicate than you think.

 

[MY1stEV]

I live in the same area and have the same electric provider. When I crunched the numbers over the whole year, the Residential Plan was a better fit for me.

I burn thru a lot more electricity in the middle of the day during the summer running 3 air conditioners than I do charging my car at night. If I was on the PEV plan, I'd be paying 20.3 cents/kWh to run those ACs.

Negating all the nonsense fees and other funny numbers...

Residential plan visualized

PEV plan visualized

 

[ngng]

Crazy that the original posts reference $4/gal for gas. I think I saw $5.25 the other day!

 

[snorp]

I called GA Power and turns out their rates are super misleading. They apply a fuel surcharge to every bill that greatly raises the price. In my case, a $200 bill included a ~$50 fuel surcharge. The thing that really annoys me is that they don't include this on our bills and you can only find out about it by calling into their billing department and asking them to explain your bill. There are a few other line items that are also not displayed on our bills, but the fuel surcharge was the most expensive by far.

So that's why my math didn't work out regarding my bill. I still think it is worthwhile to determine what I am spending vs what I would be spending with an ICE and I intend to get back to it eventually. My solar panels are supposed to be installed this year so that will help lower the costs too. Maybe. That's a different topic almost equally as muddy.