Prius Prime 2017 - Comparing Electric vs Gas cost

Electricity can be expensive (particularly in SoCal, and sometimes at public charging stations), or it can be cheap (free or subsidized public charging, or at home with PV.)

The car does not tell you where to get your electricity anymore that it tells you where to buy petrol.

And remember that EV driving has serious advantages over ICE besides cost:
MUCH nicer driving
MUCH less pollution in CA
No support of OPEC or other nasty oil producing countries

And in CA HOV privileges and tax credits, which probably drew you to the Prime in the first place. Right ?

 

welcome!
best thing to do is not charge it, and drive on gas until gas prices increase. all the best!

 

One of the things I've found is the Prius Prime car efficiency on gas only exceeds 60 MPG in city driving. As for EV miles, it will take some investigation on your part to verify:

1. CHARGE mode - on last "n" miles to home. This can add enough charge so the next day, cold-start, can be offloaded by strategic use of EV mode. Use EV to reach cross town speed and then switch to HV mode.
2. PlugShare - use this to map 'free' charge stations:
   1. Neighborhood and discuss this with the property manager/owner.
   2. Work and likely lunch areas.
   3. Shopping and entertainment spots between work and home.
3. Check local utility rates, $/kWh. There are areas where the local electrical rate is excessive. We know this because commercial customers have significantly lower rates.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

Millions of years in time + 98 tons of prehistoric, buried plant material – that’s 196,000 pounds – is required to produce each gallon of gasoline we burn in our cars. Can you imagine loading 40 acres worth of wheat – stalks, roots and all – into the tank of your car or SUV every 20 miles? If not, you'd get on a renewable grid. its a moral choice. For me personally, I would still drive EV even if Gas costs a little less (Assumption is Make is, you don't live in a locale with dirty utilities). Its about protecting earth.

 

Yep.

I charge off my home PV:
2.77 cents a kWh
6.1 kwh for a full charge
About 35 EV miles on a full charge

Works out to (2.77*6.1)/35 = about half a penny a mile
Petrol is about 10x more

 

The car charges itself. Wait until ev range is 10-20 or lower and charge to distance left.

 

I don’t know what my rates are, my son pays for it.

 

Actually, most people don’t know what their gas costs are. Their sons and daughters are the ones paying for it.

 

Here I thought I was special.

 

Clever

 

This is my reference calculated in the Canadian metric version of L/100kms and gas prices in $ per L

Electricity rate in kWh; built in 10% efficiency loss from charging.

Variability based on:
Efficiency in EV: Low is at 35kms at 17kw | High is at 43kms at 17kw

Efficiency in Gas: Low is at 5.5 L/100km | High is at 4.2 L/100kms

Currently, my electricity rate is at $0.129/kwh. So that is equivalent to $0.50 per litre in gas for the EV range. Current gas price in my region is around $1.50 per litre, so I’m saving 75% driving in EV.

EV Equivalent $/L

kwh
Elec Rates; Rated Eff; Low Eff; High Eff;
$ 0.129 $ 0.50 $ 0.47 $ 0.50
$ 0.150 $ 0.58 $ 0.55 $ 0.58
$ 0.200 $ 0.78 $ 0.73 $ 0.78
$ 0.250 $ 0.97 $ 0.91 $ 0.97
$ 0.300 $ 1.17 $ 1.09 $ 1.16
$ 0.350 $ 1.36 $ 1.27 $ 1.36
$ 0.400 $ 1.56 $ 1.45 $ 1.55
$ 0.450 $ 1.75 $ 1.64 $ 1.74
$ 0.500 $ 1.94 $ 1.82 $ 1.94
$ 0.550 $ 2.14 $ 2.00 $ 2.13
$ 0.600 $ 2.33 $ 2.18 $ 2.33
$ 0.650 $ 2.53 $ 2.36 $ 2.52
$ 0.700 $ 2.72 $ 2.55 $ 2.71
$ 0.750 $ 2.92 $ 2.73 $ 2.91

 

Err ... what ?

 

This conversation would be so much easier if people would just get used to reporting costs in pennies per Km or pennies per mile.

In the US today an average ICE car pays about 10 cents a mile and a Prius costs about 6 cents a mile
Electricity at 40 cents a kWh works out to about the same 10 cents a mile

So many spilled bytes over such a trivial question.

 

I'm confused by the "low 5kWh". I've measured total pack charge of 6.4 kWh of a fairly new, Prius Prime and I'm OK with +/- 5%. But I don't understand the "5kWh." Was that derived from the vehicle energy displays?

Bob Wilson