Fuel Factor - Are EVs really worth it?

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fordfocuselectric

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 25, 2010
Messages
113
Cars.com set up a challenge that pitted EV against non-EV. Unfortunately the Ford Focus Electric isn't available yet so it didn't compete in the challenge, but the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt and the gasoline version of the Ford Focus did.

Cars in the Challenge were a 2012 FOrd Focus, 2011 Toyota Prius Hybrid, 2011 Nissan Leaf and a 2011 Chevy Volt.

The route was a round trip from Chicago to Naperville.

At about the halfway point, the drivers exited the expressway, compiled trip data, and switched cars, the standard test-drive procedure to make sure the driving styles are balanced. For this leg of the trip, Roz drove the Leaf. The interior is roomier than the Volt, but a little noisier. Roz did like the fact that it has "a little kick."

The results:
The 2011 Nissan Leaf was the most cost efficient to drive. At $0.11 per kilowatt-hour, the total cost was $2.40.
The Chevy Volt used $1.46 worth of electricity, and $3.33 worth of gas for a total cost of $4.79.
The Prius, which uses electricity and gasoline together, consumed $5.02 worth of gas.
And the Focus used 2.1 gallons of gas for the trip at a cost of $8.72.

Of course don't forget the inital cost of the vehicles, with the Leaf being over $30K and the Ford Focus gasoline costing only $18K.
 
fordfocuselectric said:
The results:
The 2011 Nissan Leaf was the most cost efficient to drive. At $0.11 per kilowatt-hour, the total cost was $2.40.
The Chevy Volt used $1.46 worth of electricity, and $3.33 worth of gas for a total cost of $4.79.
The Prius, which uses electricity and gasoline together, consumed $5.02 worth of gas.
And the Focus used 2.1 gallons of gas for the trip at a cost of $8.72.

Of course don't forget the inital cost of the vehicles, with the Leaf being over $30K and the Ford Focus gasoline costing only $18K.

Why mention the high cost of the Leaf and not the Volt, which is almost 10k more?

And no, just on cost alone one would not buy an EV...or any new car for that matter. But I think there is more in the decision to purchase an EV than just cost.
 
I'm guessing they used the prices of the Nissan Leaf and the Ford Focus were used in the comparison because they were the vehicles with the best and the worst cost per mile in the test.

And yes that's true - if you're looking purely at cost and efficiency no one would buy new vehicles!
 
"The Prius, which uses electricity and gasoline together". This is misleading in my opinion. The Prius uses gasoline, and an electric motor and batteries to increase the efficiency of its gasoline use.
 
The question is, worth it in relation to what?
Is a ticket to a movie "worth it"? In relation to another movie? To cuddling up? To sitting in the park?
In relation to ICEs then EVs are worth it in relation to fuel costs, not worth it in relation to overall costs, more of an adventure, less of a sure thing, just all depends on the metric. :p
 
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