HV vs. EV Mode Cost

As I was sighing over my high local electricity costs, I figured that others might be interested to know whether it's more cost-effective to run your Prime exclusively in EV mode, or whether you'd be saving money running in hybrid mode. External and long-term costs to society of higher emissions not included.

This presumes Toyota's specs - 25 mile range on a full charge, 6.2 kwh per full charge (8.8 kwh battery not using the bottom or top 15% of its capacity by design), 54 MPG overall from your gas. The break-even point where running in HV costs as much as running in EV is ($/gallon) = 13.392 x ($/kwh) When figuring your electrical cost, be sure you include all charges, supply and delivery! If you spot an error in my back-of-the-envelope calculations, let me know.



I'm in the red at present. I hope you fare better!

 

Ugh, sorry to hear that. We're at about 20 cents/kwh. Still pretty painful. But I just keep reminding myself, not as painful as the dying old ICE car I just traded up from. I'll try to keep reminding myself of it next time we get another 20% cost hike for the winter.

 

Handy, thanks! Hmm, not quite a match, but really close. For instance, I found break-even 10 cents/kwh to be at 1.3392, vs. 1.37 in the chart. I wonder what the distinction is between the calculations? MPG at 54 for both, so presumably slightly different amounts of battery being used, or slightly different distances traveled on a full charge.

 

Aha! Good call, that's probably it. I set mine up like this:

($ per kwh * 6.2) / 25 = $ per gallon / 54

 

It's a good question. I kind of wonder to what extent Tesla is to "blame," glad though I am that they've played a role in bringing EVs to market. What I've been finding as I've been telling people which car I bought is that they've been shocked that I could "afford to splurge" like that. My salary is pretty middle-of-the-road, middle-class stuff. EVs are perceived as being really high-end, people think of them as being $80k+ spaceships that are luxuries for the elite: splashy but impractical, and expect the additional cost of the car to far outweigh fuel cost savings. The mainstream introduction to hybrids, though, was... the Prius, which was not hugely out of step with other compact and midsized cars. If my experience has been representative, folks might not realize that there are models like the Prime that are very reliable, high-ranging, net cost is no greater than the popular sedans, that could be saving them real money.

 

Yep, looks like most of the country should be pretty safe to be getting good savings out of EV! The only states that are above 15 cents/kwh on average are Alaska, Hawaii, Michigan, and... the entire Northeast.
EIA - Electricity Data
...Go us?

 

Granted, but the Jersey Shore is not a state. Celebrate, though, for your state's average is apparently $.1575, so your neck of the Garden is apparently sitting pretty! You have my envy. And Pennsylvania should have been exempted from the list, that was an oversight. Rejoice, Pennsylvanians! For your electricity costs a paltry $.1446 on average. Revel in the jealousy of your neighbors to the north! Our many sportsball trophies are little consolation for the highest electric rates in the continental 48.