True cost of "filling" an electric car?

Just saw the launch of the new Tesla car, and at a claimed 215m to a charge, I can see myself perhaps being persuaded to consider the technology at some stage in the not near or medium future.

I have seen quite a few charging points (or whatever they are called) - in most large European cities. I assume that the cost of a charge is set so that it would be marginally lower to run such cars compared to petrol/diesel cars.

But what would be a rough estimate for the true cost of a charge (i.e. when done at home)?

Reply to
JoeJoe
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Using figures here and assuming you have Economy 7 at around 6p for 7 hours and 12p in the day (remaining hours):

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Do do a full recharge on a 32A single phase circuit (the usual if you own an electric car and recharge it there - 13A is only really useful if you are a remote site with no 32A option):

A full recharge is estimated to be about 11 hours at 7.3kW, so 7 at 6p and 4 at 12p = £6.62

Or in terms of price/mile:

The same webpage suggests a charging rate of:

3.4 miles per kWh

So if using no more that 7 hours charging per night:

1.76p/mile

and if using day rate electricity:

3.53p/mile

For comparison, my diesel Touran at 50mpg costs around 9.6p per mile.

Either way it's a good deal, but does not factor the massive capital cost of a Tesla!

Reply to
Tim Watts

You need to factor in the price of the batteries too as these are service items. Some makers actually hire them to you for a monthly rental - so that is part of the fuel costs that so many choose to ignore when talking about running costs.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

del-s-at-home/

Any idea what it'll cost for a replacement battery and how long they are ex pected to last.

Reply to
whisky-dave

AIUI those charging points are free to use. The true costs are in the car's purchase and battery life. So you can't directly compare costs without taking into account mileage and a host of other factors.

I took a test drive in a Tesla and was quite impressed. I recommend the (free, no pressure) test drive to anyone with half an interest in the topic and a couple of hours to spare. But the car makes no sense economically for a low-mileage driver such as me.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

Tesla have previously had long warranties on the batteries - no idea what the Model 3 will offer as the car starts at a more reasonable £24k ish.

Reply to
Tim Watts

For a "true" cost (i.e. one that you could compare to a conventional car) you would need to take into account the tax levied on petrol and diesel but not on electricity.

Another Dave

Reply to
Another Dave

Yes indeed. Plus one of the largest costs of car ownership - depreciation.

Reply to
RJH

Hardly. Unless you had a supply of tax free petrol, etc.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I'd be interested what the true range actually is in average use. My guess is it's a bit like claimed MPG. Something no-one ever achieves.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Depreciation is high on current electric cars. So, buy second hand.

If you have solar PV panels, you can charge up for free in Summer. In Winter I use economy seven.

For public charge points you need a card. Present costs range from zero to £10 IFAIK

Public charge points might be vandalised or in use when you want them.

Reply to
harry

No. The point is that if this took off in a big way (and I hope it does) the government would have to tax electricity used to charge cars to maintain its revenue. I don't know how this would work but I'm certain that it would happen.

Another Dave

Reply to
Another Dave

WTF?

Are we subsidising that as well as FIT?

Reply to
Adrian Caspersz

No - Tesla are...

Reply to
Tim Watts

So what sort of driver is it aimed at long distance ? but can only do 215 miles.....

Reply to
whisky-dave

Why do they depreicate faster than ordinary cars and if they do doesn't tha t make them less useful per quid than a ordinary car.

How long does it take to charge roughly from a public point.

Reply to
whisky-dave

... fuelling unlimited use, which won't be taxed.

Can they build me a power station? I feel I may be eventually short of one.

Reply to
Adrian Caspersz

Essentially I equate one litre of oil to 10Kwh

A kwh is about 10p, so its similar .

You get a bit of energy saving from regen braking, and a bit more from the relative efficiencies of electric versus diesel engines, say a 3:1 uplift, so maybe the fuel equivalent cost is 3p a litre or so.

I did work out that it was slightly better to burn gas in an efficient power station, and charge a battery with it, than to burn it in the car. Its not orders of magnified. but its there or thereabouts.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

There's a helluva gap between my mileage and that of a "long distance" driver. I understand that some people commute up to about 100 miles each way. That's easily within the range of the car I drove (Model S, 85D), without needing to recharge at work, and would amount to a decent-enough annual mileage - say 45000 miles - and that's without counting weekends.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

Unless you are in one of those magic German testing labs...

Reply to
JoeJoe

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