How Much Are Electric Vehicles Driven?
- Thread starter Marcoose
- Start date
R3DS!X
Whatever that means
TLDR
The rebates and incentives for buying an eletric vehicle are based on the savings calculated at them driving 15,000 a year but the actual average is closer to 7,000.
This is the least-surprising conclusion ever. Electric vehicle buyers are self-selecting as people who are not concerned with the short range of electric vehicles. People who drive short range cars don't drive very far, obviously. People who drive long distances won't buy an electric car.
Given that most are probably plugged in on a nightly basis whether they're at 90% or 20%, I doubt it impacts use much unless it's farther than they can get on one charge
HadesOmega
Well-known member
The worst is if you forget to plug it in I do that sometimes. I've been pretty religious about plugging in after midnight but most cars have a feature that let's you set when it charges so you get the cheapest rates.
But I guess if you have a huge battery doesn't matter if you plug in all the time.
But I guess if you have a huge battery doesn't matter if you plug in all the time.
Aware
Well-known member
FXCLM5
bombaclaud
dood my uncle just bought a bolt taht goes 250-300.
i think he got a nice surprise when he got charged to plug in everywhere he goes.
no such thing as free ev charging spots in sonoma county anymore
$10 for 30 mins of rapid charge for 90 miles. Or plug in using your outlet and only charge like after 11pm or get nickle and dimed by pge even though we just had a fooqn fire in our city.
When it was free, it made some sense, now it doesnt make sense.
i think he got a nice surprise when he got charged to plug in everywhere he goes.
no such thing as free ev charging spots in sonoma county anymore
$10 for 30 mins of rapid charge for 90 miles. Or plug in using your outlet and only charge like after 11pm or get nickle and dimed by pge even though we just had a fooqn fire in our city.
When it was free, it made some sense, now it doesnt make sense.
In my area, "fuel" costs for a Chevy Bolt are about half what gas for a Honda Civic would cost. That assumes you're charging the Bolt at home and paying PG&E's higher "Tier 2" rates for all the electricity you use.
Marcoose
50-50
I was speculating something different. Could the EV owner be perhaps a more conscious resource mindful person, that generally would walk five blocks to the supermarket instead of driving, and combine more errands in a journey, and mixes public transportation, etc? And combined with the EV range anxiety, it skews the mileage down. Just speculating.
they may well be more conscious about conserving resources, but I doubt it's because of having to charge the car (other than on long trips)
mrzuzzo
Well-known member
Well there are some free fast chargers here in the bay but honestly it doesn't make sense to use fast charging or supercharging unless you are on a road trip because it takes almost an hour to fill your car if your battery is low. Yes, even on a Tesla.
The PG&E EV plan rate at night is 12c/kWh. The Bolt's battery is 60kWh and it can go ~240miles. That means it would cost $7.20 to charge from zero to full, so about the price of 2 gallons these days.
Your car would need to have 120mpg efficiency to match what a Chevy Bolt costs to drive, not to mention that the Bolt needs zero maintenance besides replacing tires and has HOV benefits, gov. rebates, etc.
mrzuzzo
Well-known member
We have a Chevy Spark EV. It's our only car. The range is 84 miles.
We drive it roughly 13K miles a year.
We've had it since 2016 and have just learned to not worry about range. We give our trips a bit more time than normal to account for charging (takes 20min 0-80%) but otherwise drive as usual. We're comfortable going as far as Healdsburg to the north and Sacramento to the east. Anything further and we would rent a car.
We drive it roughly 13K miles a year.
We've had it since 2016 and have just learned to not worry about range. We give our trips a bit more time than normal to account for charging (takes 20min 0-80%) but otherwise drive as usual. We're comfortable going as far as Healdsburg to the north and Sacramento to the east. Anything further and we would rent a car.
Bowling4Bikes
Steee-riiike!
lol pretty much. But the conclusion should not be that EVs aren't worth it. It should be that we need EVs in more types of vehicles: long-range, semi/hauling, snow terrain, etc.
It would be interesting to see the effect on the people who have purchased EVs, instead of making the study so global that the effect of EV vehicles on the environment is effectively lost in the wash.
As in, is the rate of change in mileage per year the same, lower or higher with an EV. of those total miles, how many were 'converted' to EV miles? etc.
Archimedes
Fire Watcher
Obviously they would have less miles driven, a) because they have shorter range and b) many of the early adopters only use them for short commutes and also have an ICE vehicle for longer trips/other uses.
AbsolutEnduser
Throttle Pusher
Do you know any electric car owners ?
I've pretty much gotten nothing but range anxiety stories and worries about where to charge the car.
I've gotten none of that from the Prius or Volt owners.
Duh it's kinda self explanatory, as someone mentioned above.
Yes, and range anxiety is only a problem when it comes to longer trips, or for people who are too cheap to charge at home.