now 100mpg over 3400 miles

Nice Job! Keep up the great MPG!

 

With a bit more effort, 90% EV, you can get close to 250mpg. I am currently at 248mpg at 87% EV and 13K+ miles.

 

Phenomenal ! You are right, it's all about EV usage and.....dedication.

 

Don't forget to include what you paid for the electricity, if anything. In Northern California, PGE rates with solar panels, 30 kWh (about 10 full charges) equals $3.80 or 1 gallon of gas. Without solar panels 13 kWh equals about 1 gallon of gas.

 

Ouch!

In Austin I pay $25 for 6 months of unlimited charging, or about 1 cent per kWh for wind power.

 

So why does your Fuelly say 33.7 kWh = 1 gallon? That's pretty much my cost.

 

Miles per gallon gasoline equivalent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

So you're doing that with a Volt not a 2007 Prius, correct?

 

correct.

My daughter is driving the Prius now, the Volt is my youngest son's but I am driving it until he graduates in May. Toyota doesn't sell PiPs in Texas.

 

I got my father's 1949 Ford when I got out of the Navy. 14mpg, 29 cents/gal (Price wars sometimes 19 cents/gal)

I haven't had the Plug-in long enough to do a proper full tank calculation yet.

 

You are confusing cost equivalence and thermodynamic equivalence. In terms of energy, one gallon of gasoline contains about 114,000 BTUs. Ethanol contains about 76,000 BTUs. So then gasoline with 10% ethanol contains (0.9 * 114 + 0.1 * 76) ~110,000 BTUs. 1 kw-hr contains 3412 BTUs. Therefore it is 32.3 kw-hr per gallon of gas with 10% ethanol...or 33.4 kw-hr per gallon of gas.

Comparing equal costs is much more difficult because gas can be $3 - $4 per gallon. Electricity can cost a few cents per kw-hr or 20-30 cents all depending on your local rates, time-of-day, etc. From an EV charging station you can get billed $1 or $2 per hour and only get 1 - 3 kw-hrs during that time.

Mike

 

No confusion here. I'm talking about cost equivalence. When I fill up I'll have gallons, cost/gallon and kWh. With solar panels and net energy metering I'll know the average (hopefully low) electricity cost. That's close enough for me.

 

So you really want to know cost per mile...not cost per unit of energy.

For me, I'm getting 50-60 mpg on gasoline...that is, say $4/60m or 6.7 cents/mile.
I'm getting about 200 wh/mile in EV, so that is about 2.6 cents/mile (13 cents/kwh...or 11 cents/kwh in summer...or zero M-F at work). Gas would need to cost around $1.50/gal before it would be cheaper. But since short trips don't get 50-60 mpg it would really have to be about $1/gal to want to not use electricity at all from an economic point of view.

Mike

 

There are still quite a few free charging stations in the SF Bay area (many are owned by cities), and some employers offer free charging. To the extent that one can make use of them, that makes the cost calcuations pretty easy.

 

I'm running about 1.3 cents/mile combined gasoline and electric.

 

OK. I don't follow all the thermodynamics stuff. It seems like you need to factor in the cost of your solar panels.

 

Do you figure in the cost of your garage?

 

No, my solar panels are saving me money. $12K in a CD earns 1.5% interest taxable as small part of my retirement finances. Solar panels save $800/year or 6.7% interest, tax free.

I did not buy the Prius to save money, I bought it for the technology and to use less gas. Like someone said, its a car with a built-in game.

 

I am currently at 2.2 cents/mile.
Before the PIP our solar panels saved us ~ $700 per year. With the PIP our annual is closer to a $1000 per year if you nclude the deferred gas costs.