I have been going down a rabbit hole of potentially buy an EV and it’s been astonishing to me, especially living in California, how unattractive it is to buy an EV.
I will give you a few reasons why:
-I have to upgrade my electric panel to support charging -I have to switch to an EV plan through PG&E, which increases my partial and peak kilowatt an hour here is the breakdown of my summer rates (winter is lower by like 10 cents for both plans)
-
E-TOU-C (current plan)
- Peak (4-9 PM): 54 cents/kWh
- Off-Peak: 46 cents/kWh
- Lower rates for usage within Baseline Allowance.
-
EV2:
- Peak (4-9 PM): 59.068 cents/kWh
- Part-Peak (3-4 PM & 9-12 AM): 48.019 cents/kWh
- Off-Peak (All other hours): 27.818 cents/kWh
- Delivery Minimum Bill: $0.37612 per meter per day.
-I have to pay someone to install a wall charger. Got a quote for $1900
-I have to pay an additional $103 a year to register an EV in CA
-On top of all these fees I don’t even qualify for many incentives as as a household we make over 300k which is honestly nothing crazy for coastal California when you factor in living expenses.
With all of these additional upfront costs and insane electric prices how does California expect people to adopt EVs?
I really want to buy one but it seems like more of a statement play and potential car performance play then a smart economic choice.
I did a cost comparison between a used Tesla Model X, a new Ford F-150 Lightning, and a new Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid. Here’s a summary including assumptions and formulas used.
Assumptions:
- Prices: $70,000 for the Tesla Model X, $65,500 for the Ford F-150 Lightning (after rebate), $56,000 for the Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid.
- Annual miles driven: 13,500.
- Gas price: $5.73/gallon, Electricity price: $0.27/kWh.
- Toyota MPG: 31.
- EV maintenance costs are 60% of a gas vehicle’s maintenance.
Formulas:
- Annual Fuel/Electricity Cost:
(Miles Driven / Efficiency) * Price per Unit. - Total Cost (5 Years):
Purchase Price + (Operating Costs * 5). - Total Cost (10 Years):
Purchase Price + (Operating Costs * 10).
Results Over 5 Years:
- Tesla Model X: Approx. $77,797.
- Ford F-150 Lightning: Approx. $78,064.
- Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid: Approx. $73,665.
Results Over 10 Years:
- Tesla Model X: Approx. $85,082.
- Ford F-150 Lightning: Approx. $90,628.
- Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid: Approx. $85,141.
Conclusion: The Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid is the most cost-effective over 5 years, while the Tesla Model X becomes more economical over 10 years due to lower operating costs.
The big unknown for me is I’m fairly confident the Toyota will be working well well beyond 10 years. We’re still yet to see how EVs and the batteries hold up over that period of time.
Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts. Coming back to the title if we feel the electric rates are at all time highs due to inflation then maybe the cost analysis is off however, I would assume gas would follow suit. I guess it depends at what percentage one would fall or increase over the next 10 years.
Two thoughts:
- do you really need a big car? Some do because they’re contractors or farmers, but most don’t.
- electricity prices are more likely to stay the same or go down with more solar/wind/battery installed.
The Volvo XC40 or C40 are great SUVs. We love our C40
Buy a hybrid. At CA prices, this is the most economical choice.
For comparison, here in WA we have gas prices almost the same, bur electricity is around $0.11/kWh.Didn’t realize how bad CA electric rates are. Remember you can produce your own electric but not your own gas. I pay 19cents and have run the numbers on installing solar a few times… at 3x the electric rate it should be a no brainer for you economically.
On financial standpoint: model x will never beat grand highlander. You forgot to calculate “opportunity cost” . $14k upfront cost: if put in money market account or CD at 5% return compounded in 10 years will yield roughly $8k. Disclaimer: Not financial advisor
Why are you buying big ass expensive cars? Get a smaller ev.
Instead of upgrading your breaker panel, look into using a ConnectDER. It allows you to tap the power at your meter BEFORE the panel. It sits between the meter and the building and has its own breaker. It’s pretty cool actually and has to be MUCH cheaper than a panel upgrade.
California sucks… move to a more EV friendly state :)
The 10 year reliability of a Tesla is not an unknown. Early Model S are 10+ years old now, and we have tons of 135k+ mile Tesla examples (based on your annual mileage).
Honestly this is an example of taking your locale into account. I pay $.07/kWh off peak and gas is around $3/gallon. It’s sort of a no brainer.
The electric utility rates that the OP pays are absurdly high!
I pay something like $.12/kWh after accounting for the monthly “flat” fees.
I’m currently shopping for a rooftop solar array for my house and garage, and the typical ROI is about 14 years for 20-some panels generating 370-410 watts each.
If I was paying 4x my utility rate, I would have the solar array mounted yesterday!
Both will increase.
Not comparing the Model Y seems like a huge flaw
It’s all about money, right? Keep burning gas and stop wasting my time
The people paying with their own money fucking care, that’s who. Is it really that fucking difficult to comprehend that people have to fucking budget for shit?
Climate change is real. Fossil fuels need to be effectively outlawed. The only way of doing this without looking like dictators is to rack up the CO2 tax to a degree that makes fossil fuels (even more) uneconomical to buy.
On the flip side solar and wind are dirt cheap. Cost of storage is plummeting. The only reason why electricity is still expensive is due to merit order principle where the most expensive forms of power generation (read: fossil fuels and nuclear) determine the price of power.
This explains why Germany pays more after switching and why their grid isn’t even close to as clean or cheap as France. /s
You think the third world is going to outlaw fossil fuel?
They are already figuring it out on their own that anything run on fossil fuels is way more expensive to own and operate. They don’t have all these old companies that the northern hemisphere has which are fighting the transition tooth, claw and nail
My fuel cost has increased about 20% in the last 15 years.
my electricity cost has increased 150% in the last 15 years.
that and the fact that i have no place to charge an EV anyways is why i bought a hybrid.
holy fuck California is expensive. I live in MD and your electricity is more than 5x higher than mine, and gas is almost 2x more.
How is your electricity so cheap? I live in MD and my electricity is 0.22/kWh (total cost including production and transmission.)
.08/kWh at my home
by 2026 ev’s will be the dominant force no matter what anyone says
They should be for “appliance vehicles”. There’s a long long market for specialty vehicles though. I’m sad to see the end of V8, and V10 sedans though.