Would charging a car like a Prius be cheaper than just buying gas?
The Prius is mainly a gas car. The electric motors in the Prius are to allow the Prius to us an engine that is sized for steady state driving rather then for acceleration. The motors provide the additional power required when accelerating. They also allow the gas engine to shut off during times of very low power demand when the gas engine would be inefficient.
There are kits that add plug-in electric power to the Prius, but they are expensive and the longevity is an unknown.
This year the Prius will have a model with plug-in capability which allows about a ten mile electric range. The purpose of this is for really bad stop and go commutes where the standard Prius has to run the engine just to charge the battery. The extra electric range should prevent this from happening.
Note that the Prius gets every bit of its energy from the gas tank. The electric motors just allow a very efficient engine to be used. You never plug in a standard Prius, and the plug-in version is not out yet.
My 2004 Prius MPG from the logbook. (Complete years only):
2003-2004 — 50.8 mpg 17,628 miles
2005 — 52.6 mpg 14,688 miles
2006 — 56.3 mpg 16174 miles
2007 — 57.3 mpg 18384 miles
2008 — 59.9 mpg 21755 miles
2009 — 61.4 mpg 16177 miles
2010 — 65.2 mpg 12134 miles
The cost of running my Prius has been 12 cents per mile for dealer maintenance, tires, and fuel combined over the 125,000 trouble-free miles I’ve driven it so far.
A fully electric car, like the Nissan Leaf, would be less expensive to run because there is no expensive gas engine to maintain and electric motors are more efficient than gas engines so a dollar’s worth of energy goes further. However, the cost of renting a car for vacation trips would have to be added in (assuming the Leaf is your only car).
Both the Prius and the Leaf are less expensive to run than an old fashioned car. Particularly when you consider that the Prius is a mid-sized car and the only cars that even come close to obtaining the MPG of the Prius are sub-compacts.
The Prius is mainly a gas car. The electric motors in the Prius are to allow the Prius to us an engine that is sized for steady state driving rather then for acceleration. The motors provide the additional power required when accelerating. They also allow the gas engine to shut off during times of very low power demand when the gas engine would be inefficient.
There are kits that add plug-in electric power to the Prius, but they are expensive and the longevity is an unknown.
This year the Prius will have a model with plug-in capability which allows about a ten mile electric range. The purpose of this is for really bad stop and go commutes where the standard Prius has to run the engine just to charge the battery. The extra electric range should prevent this from happening.
Note that the Prius gets every bit of its energy from the gas tank. The electric motors just allow a very efficient engine to be used. You never plug in a standard Prius, and the plug-in version is not out yet.
My 2004 Prius MPG from the logbook. (Complete years only):
2003-2004 — 50.8 mpg 17,628 miles
2005 — 52.6 mpg 14,688 miles
2006 — 56.3 mpg 16174 miles
2007 — 57.3 mpg 18384 miles
2008 — 59.9 mpg 21755 miles
2009 — 61.4 mpg 16177 miles
2010 — 65.2 mpg 12134 miles
The cost of running my Prius has been 12 cents per mile for dealer maintenance, tires, and fuel combined over the 125,000 trouble-free miles I’ve driven it so far.
A fully electric car, like the Nissan Leaf, would be less expensive to run because there is no expensive gas engine to maintain and electric motors are more efficient than gas engines so a dollar’s worth of energy goes further. However, the cost of renting a car for vacation trips would have to be added in (assuming the Leaf is your only car).
Both the Prius and the Leaf are less expensive to run than an old fashioned car. Particularly when you consider that the Prius is a mid-sized car and the only cars that even come close to obtaining the MPG of the Prius are sub-compacts.
References :
http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20110125/bc_olsen_prius_reliability_110125/20110125?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
The current Prius is a gas-electric hybrid, but gets all of its initial energy from gas. It can store some of the energy as electricity in an extra battery and use that when needed, but you cannot charge it.
They are coming out with a PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) next year, which will operate like the Chevy Volt – charge it from an outlet, and fill it up with gas. When the charge runs out, it will run on gas.
Then there’s the pure electric vehicles, like the Nissan Leaf (that’s currently the only mass-produced one sold in the U.S.).
To operate, electric vehicles are much cheaper. Usually about 5 cents a mile for the electricity, whereas the Prius might be 10 cents a mile and a standard car (24 mpg) would be close to 20 cents a mile (plus depreciation, insurance, maintenance etc.) The big question is how long the batteries last. For a gas-electric hybrid like the Prius they last the life of the car it seems, but for the PHEV or EV the batteries have to be fully discharged and charged pretty much each time, which really decreases the life of the battery. Replacing batteries is expensive, and this might change the whole mathematics.
However: You’re not sending massive amounts of money over to places like Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nigeria, Russia, places that generally don’t like us much. So we keep the money close to home, and the air is potentially cleaner, so asthmatics and others with respirator problems can breathe easier. Also, if the electricity is from renewable resources, it can reduce global warming and acidification of the oceans, which might be worth the price right there. And gasoline is definitely not becoming cheaper like in the 90′s.
It’s a complicated situation, anybody with a one-line answer is probably too caught up in political catch-phrases to give it a worthwhile answer.
References :
much reading over the decades
There is more to consider than energy costs. The main reason US auto makers have been so resistant to electric is there are dramatically fewer required repairs. That is something auto makers factor in when looking at profitability, not just the initial sale of a vehicle, but repairs and replacement parts over the life of the car. The great benefit of an electric car is you can install solar panels and get all your energy for free after a few years of paying for your investment, most cities also have plug in stations with no fee to recharge your battery. This is a big reason why the few electric Rav 4′s still on the road are hard to find and sell for about what they sold for new.
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You are asking a budgeting decision that not only includes the cost of the gas versus electricity but also a whole host of other things.
I suspect that your real interest resides with the life-time, operational costs of getting from point A to point B during your ownership. This is a pretty simple question with a less than simple answer. It begins with the mileage you expect to get in your comparison vehicles, the type of driving conditions you experience, what happens to the cost of gas over the time you use your vehicle, what happens to the cost of electricity over the life time you use your vehicle, and even if you will end up with a differing tax structure in the attempt to recoup per gallon gas taxes. As indicated in some of the other answers, there are some maintenance and other operational cost considerations to be made as well. (Don’t expect plug-in stations to be or remain free in your area as these costs must be paid for one way or another whether they are paid by a governmental agency/tax dollars or a private business for alturistic or marketing reasons. I suspect that soon, plug in stations will not only be expected to provide their own operational costs but will also become a revenue source like all other goods and services.)
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The answer to your question depends on your individual circumstances. Electric cars can be cheaper overall, as long as your driving pattern consists of mostly short trips. In this circumstance, the higher monthly payment of an electric car will be offset by lower fueling cost.
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A good tool to see which type of car is most cost effective for you is the calculator below:
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http://www.squidoo.com/a-free-calculator-for-economy-hybrid-and-electric-cars
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