How much does an electric car actually cost?

Electric vehicles have long been seen as crucial to moving the U.S. economy away from fossil fuels: Many Americans are too car-addicted to abandon their personal vehicles, and the country is too tethered to its highways and suburbs to make a quick switch to a full-scale European-style public transportation system. (Sorry, mass-transit advocates.) A fleet of EVs, running on clean electricity, could help slash the 28 percent of U.S. emissions that come from transportation. But often, possible EV buyers are understandably scared off by the higher sticker price. But what about over the lifetime of a vehicle? Shannon Osaka digs into this tricky question.

If you're curious about our methodology, we used a 2020 report from Consumer Reports, showing the difference in lifetime fueling costs of Crossovers/SUVs ($11,200) and maintenance ($4,600) for all models.

Sources
Roughly half of Americans unable to receive full tax benefit:

Additional reading:
The EV tax credit can save you thousands — if you’re rich enough

How to ensure electric cars aren’t just for rich people

In Chicago, ‘charging deserts’ part of racial divide on electric vehicles

Buying an Electric Vehicle? Here Is Some Advice.

#electriccars #kona #ev #tesla #hyundai

[Grist]

Hi folks! One thing we wanted to make clear is that our calculations do in fact include both EV charging and EV maintenance. We subtracted the difference of extra savings to the retail price of the EV Kona. Here are the numbers from Consumer Reports:

ICE: SUV/Crossover lifetime fueling costs, $19, 900
EV: SUV/Crossover lifetime charging costs, $8, 700
Difference: $11, 200

ICE: lifetime maintenance costs, $9, 200
EV: lifetime maintenance costs, $4, 600
Difference: $4, 600

[yvonboudreau]

One thing you failed to take into account is the fact that tax on electricity will have to increase to offset the decline in fuel tax revenue.
This will more than offset the difference between gas and electric cars over time.

[DoubleplusUngoodthinkful]

Let me get this straight... to avoid "burning up our planet", we need to switch from gas cars to coal cars? Yeah, that makes sense.

[lancealdrich]

The batteries in these ev cars only last up to 5 to 7 years, and they cost around 5, 000 to 10, 000 depending on manufacturer. My brother in law has had a Tesla for 4 years and all ready had to change his out.

[charlesward]

What is the “life-span” of a Kona EV? How many miles? How many years? Do you just junk it when the battery dies, or replace the battery? How much does it cost to replace the battery? What is the re-sale value of an EV that needs a new battery? My “98 Subaru Legacy Outback purchased used in 2010 cost me $8900.00 or about $750 per year so far, plus maintenance and fuel. For the ownership cost of 120, 000 miles that works out to about $.12/mile, plus fuel and maintenance. Fuel at 18 MPG and $2.75/gal (it has been higher and lower over time) works out to about $0, 07 per mile. Oil changes have worked out to about $0.01/mile. Tires about $0.01/mile. Repair costs have been about $0.03/ mile. So my actual mileage cost is around $0.25 per mile, and it is going to get better because the car should be good for ANOTHER. 100, 000.00 miles with maintenance and repairs, depending upon parts availability. Convenience is valuable, too. we can drive 600 miles in a day, and spend less than 20 minutes re-fueling regardless of outside temperatures. Another downside of electric vehicles is that the rest of us have to subsidize what is essentially a luxury purchase, and EV’s don’t pay a fuel tax of almost a penny a mile that funds road repair and construction. So electric vehicles can look like a bargain as long as you don’t count the “welfare” in terms of tax breaks that you get from other people. And, electric vehicles won’t save us from “burning up the planet” since most of the electricity in the country is generated by burning fossil fuels in the form of coal and natural gas, so most electric vehicles are essential “coal powered.” So much for being “green.”

[geoffschulz]

This video doesn't actually tell you the cost of an electric car, it gives some generalities and hypothetical numbers. This does not include the cost of recycling the batteries, or the cost of major repairs, which is at least 3 times more than an equivalent ICE vehicle. This video suggests that it is cheaper to maintain an electric vehicle, which is absolutely not true. Volvo has just released a report that shows the cost of ownership of these vehicles and that the cost of an EV will not break even (or be cheaper than an ICE vehicle) until 90K miles. So, if you are the type to sell your car before 90Kmiles, it will cost you more to own an EV.

[rob]

You missed the most important factor. It depends on how much you drive each year. If grandma doesn’t drive much, that EV is more expensive.

[standingbear]

this is going to change drastically when electricity cost skyrocket.

[billj]

There are still lots of unanswered questions-
1. Does the earth have enough resources to manufacture car batteries for everyone, over and over.
2. How long do the batteries last? We all have cell phones and laptop computers with batteries that only last a fraction of when they were new. So after a few years your electric car will only go 50 miles on a full charge?
3. How much does it cost to replace the batteries in your 3 year old car?
4. Can we build enough factories to recycle the bad batteries?
5. Can our electric grid handle charging electric cars at every home? We have plenty of locations in the US where the electric grid can barely handle extremes of weather. Will we tell people that they can recharge their cars or run their air conditioner but not both?

[lamontsanford]

Batteries get what’s called a memory over time, this memory will reduce the capacity of the batteries. I don’t hear anyone talking about the reduction in storage overtime, thus less distance from your EV. The same type of thing occurs with solar panels, over time the panels do not put out the same amount of electricity. Furthermore, we have trouble with capacity of our electrical grid, in the summer months when we use air conditioning our current grid can’t handle the additional drain. Power generation is a dynamic process, when demand calls for additional power power stations come on line and meet the demand, since we don’t have a storage system for electricity, excess power generation cannot be stored.

[Robert-ughx]

Where is all of extra electricity going to come from to charge these cars

[ken]

My well-off relative drove EV’s for a few years. He always had concern about low battery when travel; he now switches to a 6-cylinder hybrid.

[TheDude]

A few things to note. Fuel prices are fluctuating heavily. Also especially fast charging stations can charge a lot more for the power. That makes actual savings on fuel unpredictable and also dependent on how/where youre charging.
Electric cars are not maintenance free. Theyre are basically just oilchange free. If something goes wrong with an electric car its the same cost with minor things but battery or engines are much much more expensive on EVs. If not charged smartly or in very hot climate a battery can last as little as 5 years and its pretty much a 5 figure replacement on even the smallest ones.
As for the tax credit it seems like a very american thing to substitute the wealthy and rich with tax money while below average earning people get nothing so thats to be expected.
The carbon footprint of todays EVs with lithium ion batteries is just about 20 to 25% lower than the average petrol and only slightly better than cng powered vehicles. So while better than nothing in tha regard its certainly not the answer. We need significantly better energy storage solutions for it to have a decent enough impact.

[ahah]

Nobody talks about battery depreciation....who would want your used EV when you cant really tell if the battery is ok or soon to die...yeah il keep my diesel thanks.

[genimane]

You forgot to mention that :
1 . A used car you can buy or sell it
2 . Nobody will buy a used ev because the bateries must be changed after 7 years of use and they cost very very much but an engine you can rebuild it with less money
3 . To do a long trip with an ev is a big headache

[kendavis]

$714 per month vs $381 per month for 60 months. That's $19600 dollars over the 60 month period. Same interest rate of 6%.

[BackyardMaine]

You forgot to mention the lifetime of the batteries, eventual battery replacement cost, reduced performance of the batteries over time and how they actually perform in cold climates.

[Sontus]

Very interesting - but, while an ev might be worth it for a local use second car they are totally impractical for over the road travel - people are not going to wait 2-3 hours every 350-400 miles to recharge their ev. A Hybred vechical does address this issue and in the long run will probably be a substantial percentage of the market. One of the things you forgot to include in your analysis was the cost of installing high capacity charging station(s) at your home and the extremely high cost to society to upgrade the existing electrical grid to handle all of these new evs - 500, 000 is a drop in the bucket when there are 200, 000, 000 cars on the road - so it is time to get real and address the real costs of this fantasy. And while we are on the subject of cost, the government artificially raising the price of gas and trying to convince people that in the long term electricity will be cheaper is a lie in the greater sense - electric prices will surge once the public has bought into this fantasy as upgrades to the system are implemented. And as for the car companies doing the right thing, have you never heard the word marketing. Playing this game is just another way of saying "If it sounds right, it must be right". Something must be done, yes, but we must be truthful about what we are doing. The long term costs of replacement batteries, etc., when you have 100, 000, 000 cars on the road needing replacements is beyond anyone's thought at this time. How do you dispose of them...how do you recycle them every 100, 000 miles...no one wants to talk about that because they haven't given any long range thought to it. Think about it for a bit...

[mostlyinterested]

I absolutely love (hate, actually) the fact that everyone thinks that people have the where-with-all to make this huge capital investment and that they will buy these electric car options that, in some cases, are double the cost of the new gasoline-powered vehicle.
Also, what about "mom, the kids and us are coming to Cleveland for Thanksgiving." Yup, good plan. Except you have to turn yourself into a Logistics specialist where you can plan a trip that overnights at a hotel where there's enough charging stations (not just one) and also a restaurant within walking distance of the hotel (since your car will be unavailable to drive as it's charging-up).
Also, you've got to add-in the cost of charging the batteries. A friend told me it cost him $53.00 to fully charge his EV on a trip recently. Considering that you're already massively out-of-pocket with the capital cost of the car, that's hardly the kind of savings I am expecting from such a dramatic change. BTW, he also told me his insurance costs for his EV are significantly higher because the replacement parts and labor cost more.
I really think this is one big financial scam just to make some folks "virtuous". Anytime someone cannot show me a spreadsheet that accurately displays the costs of a gasoline-powered vehicle versus an EV and not "forget" to mention ALL the expenses of an EV, you know it's bogus.
As I said, I have friends who do love their EVs. They do however always have the reservation of "but I wasn't expecting cost a) or b) and I didn't realize cost c) and d) would be so much".
The one real stumbling block for me is: how on earth are all the low-income people supposed to suddenly migrate from their $10, 000 used KIA to a $40, 000 new KIA EV with all the associated additional costs such as insurance, charging costs and "oops, one of the batteries went bad." These cars are not cheap to fix and your repair options are currently limited to dealerships as there isn't yet a network of "mom and pop shops" that can fix EVs.

[pocketchange]

You also need to figure the cost of electricity to increase when more demand is needed to power EV cars. Amongst other things.