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Cost of Electric vs Cost of Gas - where is the break even point

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by hackenfort, May 18, 2017.

  1. hollyrik

    hollyrik Junior Member

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    Location:
    Bellevue WA
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Plug-in Advanced
    The recent rise in the cost of gas had me look at this sort of question again, but from a bit different angle, that is for figuring out when to buy kWh at charging stations when away from home. I'm in $.10/kWh Washington state for home charging, and use 4 mi/kWh on EV and 55 mi/gal on HV for calculations. Back (well, not that far back) when gas was less than $3/gal, I eschewed the stations that cost $.25/kWh or more. It works out that away from home charging at $.25/kWh (what lots of Chargepoint spots cost) works out to about the same as $3.40/gal. So where I used to pass these up, I now will use them vs. >$5/gal gas costs if I'm not going to get home without running out of my EV battery. I'm even willing to pay up to nearly $.40/kWh as gas passes the $5 mark.
     
  2. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    SacTown, Ca
    Vehicle:
    2021 Prius Prime
    Model:
    LE
    Your break-even point is $0.396 kWh. The assumptions are $5.50/gallon, 50 mpg, and 4.0 miles/kWh. The numbers and math are skewed in our favor, because EV mileage may vary greatly depending on driving conditions. Right now, I'm averaging mid to high 4 miles/kWh, but this last winter I was only getting mid to high 3 miles/kWh - and we have very mild winters here.
    So if your total electricity cost is less than 40 cents/kWh and you need to do something else while the car is charging - it's worth plugging-in otherwise just run it on gas......
     
    #62 BiomedO1, Jul 4, 2022
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2022
  3. hollyrik

    hollyrik Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 20, 2007
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    Location:
    Bellevue WA
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Plug-in Advanced
    For those interested in determining their own breakeven points using their own cost and mileage estimates, the math is straightforward:
    Find electricity rate given pump price: $/kWh = $/gal * m/kWh / mi/gal.
    Find pump cost given electricity rate: $/gal = $/kWh * mi/gal / mi/kWh