this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
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[–] NewNewAccount@lemmy.world 182 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Seems like bullshit to me. Recognizing the logical fallacy here, it’s still worth pointing out the firm has a history of working with major auto manufacturers, and is headquartered near Detroit. Their CEO, Patrick L. Anderson, also served under a Republican governor in multiple roles and is a contributor to numerous conservative research institutes.

[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 60 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yeah, this is bullshit. I charge my car at home by leaving it plugged in overnight. Costs me literally a few bucks a month to keep it charged. I don't even notice it on my electricity bill.

If I were charging at fee-based charging stations all the time, the story would be different, but who the hell does that?!?

[–] Zeshade@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We were looking at getting an EV without being able to charge it at home. Charging it at public chargers here in the UK would've cost about the same as petrol. But having to rely on the public charging infrastructure in its current state made us decide against it, at least for now.

[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (9 children)

Out of curiosity, why couldn't you charge it at home? Most electric cars can have their chargers plugged into a standard wall outlet. It's slower, but it works fine.

[–] Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I live in a hilly suburb, there's a parking pad at road level which is far from my house and on council land. No way for me to install charging equipment. It's very common in my country.

[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah, that sounds like a fully electric vehicle wouldn't be a good fit, then.

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[–] iNeedScissors67@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'd love to have one too but I live in the city now instead of the suburbs. My car is parked on a concrete pad in the alley behind my house, a good 80 feet from any electricity. I could probably charge at work though by just parking in the warehouse and plugging in to one of the many extension cords we have around.

[–] kescusay@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I mean, if your employer doesn't mind, that could be a hell of a cost-effective way to keep it topped up.

[–] iNeedScissors67@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm the VP so I'd better be able to get away with it lol

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Here in DK we are fine with public charging only. Still quite a bit cheaper than gas for a comparable car. And I suspect lower repair cost, (currently) free parking and eventual city closures for ICEs to be enough logical reasons for hesitant people. Personally I would have never bought an ICE. Felt bad enough getting a car at all.

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[–] db2@sopuli.xyz 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It's not a ~~logical fallacy~~ conspiracy when they're really out to get you though.

That said, my experience charging an EV in the space of one month cost as much as 14 twelve gallon tanks of gas. There may be something wrong with my electric service but the power company is an evil monopoly that doesn't care about anything but getting paid so..

[–] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Assuming gas is $3.75/gal where you live, that is $630. If you spent $630 on charging your car in one month then you either drive 3000 miles a month or have a problem with your electric meter. Assuming you live in the state with the highest electricity prices that isn't Hawaii (because then we couldn't assume $3.75/gal for your gas), your rate is $0.34/kWh. That means you 1853kWh.

Assuming you drive the least efficient EV, the Hummer, which goes 329 miles on 213kWh, you would have to drive 2862 miles in one month to spend $630. So for the worst case electrical price, with the worst case EV mileage, with average gas prices, you are driving a lot more than most people to spend 14 twelve gallon tanks of gas worth. For reference, switching that Hummer to a Bolt would only cost $278 to drive 2862 miles.

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[–] snooggums@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Did you charge at home during the night, or during peak hours/at fast chargers?

How many tanks of gas would you have gone through in a comparable vehicle?

[–] kiddblur@lemm.ee 26 points 1 year ago

Here's my answer for this (with data!): For the month of July, I charged 440.0 kWh. I averaged 94% efficiency while charging, so the chargers actually used 469 kWh. There were 35 charges, for a total of 66 hours spent charging. My total electric cost is 15 cents per kWh (my plan doesn't have peak/off-peak). I did no charging at superchargers in July.

In that timeframe, I drove 1314 miles. 355kWh were used while driving, giving me an average efficiency of 3.7 miles per kWh. You'll note that I used 85 fewer kWh driving, that's because thosed 85 kWh were used to precondition my car, keep the AC running while I'm in the store or on a bike ride, etc. Super wasteful, but it's so cheap that I can't help myself).

So to break it down: 15 cents per kwh * 469kWh = $70 to charge, $12.75 of which was just used for climate control while not driving.

My last car was a 2016 Honda Accord Touring V6 which, in my area and with my driving style, averaged about 22mpg (lots of steep hills, 85mph driving, and stop and go traffic. I live 15 miles from town by interstate and town has lots of traffic).

According to AAA, the average cost of gas in PA is $3.87 (I know that price changes, but the math gets harder if I look up the price of gas each time I would have had to fill the tank so I'm just taking the current avg). 1314 miles / 22mpg = 59.7 gallons of gas * $3.87 = $231.

For extra fun math, looking at purely fuel costs, the Accord would cost 17.5 cents per mile to drive (not including the fact that I'd need an oil change every 4 months, transmission fluid every year and a half, etc).

My current car at current electric rates costs 5.3 cents per mile to drive.

Additionally, i'm planning on getting solar in a year or two, which should bring my cost down to effectively zero. AND, we can charge for free at my wife's work when she's in the office (as well as at the park I bike at), but she wasn't in the office at all in July; we both worked from home full time last month.

TL;DR: my Model 3 Long Range costs about a third as much per mile to drive as my similarly sized Honda Accord did before I sold it

[–] faltryka@kbin.social 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I charge a Lightning at home with an 80 amp charger and before that I had a gas f150. The increase to my energy bill was about $30-$40 a month and offset about $400 a month in gas.

[–] snooggums@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago (8 children)

That is a clear comparison, and sounds like a fantastic change as well!

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[–] realbaconator@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

There’s definitely a lot of nuance involved. For instance my service provider charges more for electricity than the public charge stations do (seriously fuck PG&E and every other monopolistic service provider), so I actually save money by not charging at home. It’s still absolutely cheaper than filling up on gas though, especially when I can find a spot where I don’t have to pay (like my work.)

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

It seems inconsistent with other studies and the article only states results, not assumptions. Most importantly: where?

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[–] adeoxymus@lemmy.world 81 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The whole article and the report, nowhere is it explained how they get their numbers. What fuel prices or electricity prices have they used, what mileage for the cars. It's kind of crucial info, and not really difficult to calculate either.

[–] NewNewAccount@lemmy.world 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah because the article is absolute bullshit. The bias was immediately evident.

[–] RetroEvolute@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Then why'd you post it? 😅

[–] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's provocative. It gets the people going.

Is this your first day on social media? People post 1 + 1 = 3 and get a ton of angry corrections.

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[–] RaoulDook@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I could give an easy estimate for the costs with napkin math. A quick gooble search says that a long-range EV might require up to 100 kWh of power to charge (high estimate) and where I live the electricity cost is about $0.11/kWh. That's $11 for a "fill up" of a long-range EV.

A tank of gas that could get me 300 miles is closer to $40.

$11 < $40.

[–] kiddblur@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

I've got real world math that basically backs this up (you can find my other comment in this thread if you want all the juicy details): My honda accord got 22mpg and had a 17 gallon tank, and gas here is $3.87. $66 to fill up and drive 374 miles = 17.6 cents per mile. My Model 3 Long Range has 77kWh usable and gets about 3.7 miles per kwh, my electricity is 15 cents per kwh (until i get solar next year), so $11.55 to fill up and drive 285 miles (so 4 cents per mile).

Yes the accord got about 90 miles more range, but cost 3 times as much to fuel and that range only matters (to me) on road trips, and my range has yet to be an issue in my model 3.

In fact I'm going on a 6 hour drive next week and according to ABRP I'll only have to make one 10 minute stop halfway to charge in order to get to my hotel (where I can charge up for free)

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[–] LetMeEatCake@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The report gives a quick summary of what they include, but not any details or math.

The cost of underlying energy (gas, diesel, electric)
State excise taxes charged for road maintenance
The cost to operate a pump or charger
The cost to drive to a fueling station (deadhead miles)

Elsewhere it says it assumes 12k miles in a year and is focused on the midwest and Michigan in particular. As it so happens, Michigan charges for registration based on the car value. EVs cost more than ICE vehicles in the same market segment most of the time. This would fall under excise taxes that they include.

I wouldn't be surprised if they also tacked on the cost to install a L2 charger once as "cost to operate a pump or charger" — intentionally ignoring that it's a one-time fee to support EVs at a home. With those two data points they could easily add >$1000 to the cost to "charge" an EV for one year if that is what they wanted to do.

The people making the report clearly picked criteria that sounds reasonable but also intentionally misleads people. Not a surprise.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Research firm is bullshitting. It costs like $1-$2 for me to fill up my car with electricity at home.

[–] tekchic@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Agreed. I have spent $8 in the past month, and I have a 60 mile round trip commute to the office 2 days a week.

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[–] SloppyPuppy@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Where i live its literally 5 times cheaper. I call bullshit.

[–] pectoralis@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not in my experience. Perhaps if you were charging at a location which charges an inflated rate. At my current electrical costs in Canada, electric is cheaper per kilometre.

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[–] Poofypuma@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

From August 2022 to August 2023 I’ve spent $220 dollars TOTAL on keeping my EV charged…

[–] ericbandrews@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

Well this article just isn't right at all

I drive an entry level EV (Hyundai Kona) that advertises 4mi/kWh, which is roughly accurate (2-3 in the winter, 5-7 in the summer). That's 25 kWh for 100 miles.

Average cost of electricity in the US is, according to a quick Google, somewhere between $.15 and $.25 per kWh; where I live it's a steeper $.33.

Therefore, depending on where I charge, I'm paying anywhere between $3.75 and $8.25 to drive 100 miles--$1.50 short of the article's published $9.78 even with my expensive power.

In reality, though, I pay nothing--my office offers free charging. Show me an office with free gas.

[–] Yantantethera@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Does not include the cost of environmental impact of burning fossil fuels... Which we are all starting to pay.

[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

From the original study:

Notes: Costs are calculated for vehicles driving 12,000 purposeful miles per year. Uses energy prices, gas taxes, and EV registration fees in the Midwest or State of Michigan. Representative models within segments were selected on the basis of sales volume and to include a variety of manufacturers. Entry, mid, and luxury segments are defined based on typical purchase price. ...

As in the first edition, AEG calculated all four categories of costs involved in fueling both EVs and ICE vehicles across benchmark use cases that reflect real-world driving conditions for U.S. households. The costs included:

  • The cost of the underlying energy (gasoline or diesel fuel, or electricity)
  • State excise taxes charged on fuel and EVs for road maintenance
  • The cost of operating a pump or charger
  • The cost of driving to and from fueling stations (deadhead miles)

This seems like the Anderson Economic Group is playing with statistics to make gas cars seem more attractive.

If you look at this map of savings with EVs vs. gas cars, you'll find that most states have much larger savings with electric vehicles over gas vehicles, and there's still savings when driving in Michigan by their accounting!

Michigan is the most expensive state to run an electric vehicle with an average annual cost of $5,076

TL;DR: Disregard this study.

[–] NevermindNoMind@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

So if I was to be really generous, this study shows, at best, that it's cheaper to own a ICE car if your living in an apartment without charging capabilities in Michigan?

[–] djvinniev77@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not reading further down the line to see but did anyone notice the pic used in this post to show someone not understanding where their fuel door is? Back out and back in correctly and pump gas like a normal human being.

[–] iguessineedtosignup@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That's a Costco, they specificially tell you to use any lane and the hose is long enough to reach. That person is just following directions. The stations are built with one way traffic flow and get very busy, it's not practical to queue for a particular side of the car.

[–] djvinniev77@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Ah! Today I learned that happens. Thanks for letting me know.

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[–] QuinceDaPence@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you have a Rivian R1T or GMC Hummer, the cost to charge at home isn't much different; it's about $17.70 per 100 miles.

Assuming the manufacturers claims are accurate (which is a big assumtion I know) that R1T, at the current US average electricity price of $16.14 per kWh, is $7.26/100mi.

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[–] BombOmOm@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is pretty similar to the numbers I ran myself. Public charging costs about the same as gas, and home electricity (particularly if in a cheap area) is where the savings come from. This was using US numbers, which has some of the cheapest gas in the world.

[–] WidowsFavoriteSon@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Cost to fill up is not cost of ownership.

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[–] Green_Bay_Guy@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

...how? Like, it cost $30 (10 gal) to fill my petrol car in the states. Even if I was using 150kwh in electricity, at my power rate in Wisconsin ($.13/kWh), it's $19.95. I live in Vietnam now, and pay 2500 VND per kWh, and petrol is about 23500vnd/litre. I have an electric moped that goes 110km/charge, and has a usable capacity of about 0.7kwh. I rarely empty the battery, but even if I did it daily, it would be .08USD/day.

I'd like to see the math crunched on this.

Edit: I found the math. It's dishonest. Shocker.

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[–] Raise_a_glass@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

If we are talking just filling up - I went from $200/month with gasoline to $15-20/ month with my ev and charging at home. Obviously YMMV

[–] ChairmanMew@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

This is absolutely stupid. The only way you're spending more on EV charging is if you get the most expensive at-home charger with the most expensive professional installation, and then never use it because you only charge at the most expensive level-3 chargers. I almost exclusively charge my Bolt for free, but even when I pay for the electricity it's the cost equivalent of getting 120-150 mpg. The level-3 chargers like Electrify America come out to be in the same ballpark as gas in terms of cost per mile, maybe even a little more... But you'd have to use them to ridiculous excess for the overall cost of driving to even approach ICE vehicles.

[–] Screwthehole@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (7 children)

I got blasted with a $700 electric bill this month, and we didn't really do anything new or different. So this doesn't surprise me really.

If electricity is going to cost this much, I guess the only way electric gets "cheaper" than gas is by hiking gas prices until its cheaper to charge. Consumers are never going to win though.

[–] WarmSoda@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (16 children)

Why was your bill $700 though?
Is that all new charges for the previous month, is there an unpaid amount from last months bill? If you owed $650 on the last bill and didn't pay it while the new month generated $50 in new charges then yeah your bill will be for $700. Just as an example.

Just saying a number doesn't mean anything. How did you manage to get charged $700.00 for your electric last month?

Edit: dude posted his bill below. His charge for one month is $350

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[–] Evil_Shrubbery@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Price of gas is not the cost of gas.

It should include a way of getting the gases back into non-gas form and to reverse/mitigate any damages caused in the process. And the same for all of the supply chains (for gas and electricity, and any product really), can't produce that much waste on a finite planet & just forget about it if there are no (complete, non-bs) recycling processes, natural or man-made.

Thats why plastic very much isn't cost-efficient, it's just cheap bcs legislators allow it to be.

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