ElectricityCost

With gas prices plummeting, and the promise they will fall further, I wondered what the break even price would be for gas vs electric. The only calculations that made sense were using some plain numbers as there are so many variables (EV Range varies with ambient temperature, mpg varies with trip variance, etc.).

I determined that gas would have to fall below $2 per gallon to make gas cheaper than electric drive given our particular situation. This is very unlikely to happen in California.

A much more accurate calculation would be quite difficult. It would, in our case, have to include variations in solar energy produced by our roof system, driving patterns for weekdays vs weekends, and ambient temperature effects on battery recharge. At lease in our case our grid cost is a stable $0.15 per kWh 24/7. Also there is no practical way to force the Clarity into ICE mode 100% of the time (except HV Charge). Even with a dead battery the car will still slip into EV mode for brief periods of time.

The bottom line is gas is very unlikely to drop below $2/gallon in CA so I don't have to think about this any longer.

 

In the far southwest corner, SD Gouge & Extort has had a fairly nice yearly rebate the past two years of $500 (this year) per electric vehicle. Between our two EVs, we saw $1,000 credit this summer. That pretty much covered the electric bill for the summer, even with AC and two EVs going (solar helps). The summer pricing during peak (4-9PM, June 1-Oct 31 - 53¢/kWh !) is not great, but winter is a little better (22¢-24¢/kWh). The transmission charge is 16¢/kWh year-round. Electricity varies from 6¢ to 36¢/kWh depending on time of use. A 10kW battery helps take some of the sting off the peak charges in the summer, but it won't charge a car or run the AC. So while the only time it makes sense in the summer to charge is in the dead middle of the night, the price differential from the lowest to the highest of the three tiers in the winter is only 3¢. Charging during the day isn't a huge issue from November through June.

As mentioned, unless gas drops below $2/gallon (it came close a few times this summer using a Vons discount), electricity is the less expensive fuel.