Cost of charging?

[bjorn]

A bigger gap would be great, but I can easily get skis, 2x4 lumber, garden tools, etc to fit, so I find it very useful.

Edited February 26, 2014 at 04:14 AM by bjorn

[Gigi]

When I was buying station wagons and minivans, one of the criteria was whether it would fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood on the floor in the back.  Once I bought a pickup truck a few years back, working around the house and hauling stuff just got a whole lot easier.  With a pickup handy, I don't worry about the size of the Fusion Energi's trunk.

 

I say that I'll never buy another vehicle that isn't a hybrid or an electric.  I also say that I don't want to ever be without a pickup truck.  Now if somebody would make a reasonably priced PHEV pickup. . .

[smokewagon]

I ran the numbers over and over just like you guys trying to convince myself what to do, the answer was buy the Energi and I wont have to buy gas the rest of my life [or very little], considering I plan to keep this car about 7 years then trade, where will this technology be then? At least twice as good being conservative. What will the price of gas be then? I don't want to know! I don't want to be part of it.

Here are my numbers:

24 mile commute, $0.053 off peak charge rate, the ICE just never runs. I put in 4 gallons of non-ethanol premium gas and a little PRI-G fuel preservative back in November and cut up my gas card.

 

smokewagon,

[meyersnole]

I ran the numbers over and over just like you guys trying to convince myself what to do, the answer was buy the Energi and I wont have to buy gas the rest of my life [or very little], considering I plan to keep this car about 7 years then trade, where will this technology be then? At least twice as good being conservative. What will the price of gas be then? I don't want to know! I don't want to be part of it.

Here are my numbers:

24 mile commute, $0.053 off peak charge rate, the ICE just never runs. I put in 4 gallons of non-ethanol premium gas and a little PRI-G fuel preservative back in November and cut up my gas card.

 

smokewagon,

 

hi smokewagon... just a couple of things.

 

the technology in this car is both new and established at the same time. Atkinson engines, eCVT transmissions, and hybrid drive has been around for some time. The technology is proven.

 

the plug in variety and battery chemistry seems to be changing pretty rapidly right now. this is driven primarily by higher fuel cost and emission challenges... 7 years from now? my guess would be that battery chemistry changes dramatically but more importantly any car will depreciate significantly over 7 years. right now we have the advantage of tax incentives to offset some/most of the additional upfront cost of the battery -- and when you factor in fuel savings the total cost of ownership does not appear to be out of line with other vehicles in its class.

 

also realize that even if you never run the car long enough to engage the ICE, it will fire for things like oil maint, moisture in the gas tank, extreme climate, etc. But this is as designed and healthy for the vehicle.

[Mike Antonoff]

My commute is also 35 miles and I charge at home and at work. I did some calculations for myself and maybe they will help.

 

First though, be careful about what you think you are paying for electricity, there is a price per KWH, but also usually a delivery price per KWH also that can vary. I went through my bill and basically calculated about .19 per kwh for me, but more than most expect. (i'm in New York).

 

Anyway heres what I calculated, I charge at home and at work, work I will not pay for it though.

 

I used 20 miles per charge (though i'm seeing now that it may not always be that much)

 

260 days (5 workdays * 52 weeks) of charging = 1976 kW (based on 7.6 kW per day) which = $375 a year for me charging at home 

that gets me 5200 miles (260 days * 20 miles), now my charging at work will be free, so i'll double that for 10,400 miles

 

My commute with no electricity I assumed i'd get 40 MPG, so 10,400 miles would require 260 Gallons of gas on the year, at $4 per gallon, thats $1040.

 

So $1040 I would be spending on gas - $375 I am instead paying in electricity = Savings of $665 per year

 

Thats just me, obviously if I couldn't charge at work for free, I'd have to cut the total gas saved in half which then would only give me a small savings of about $145 a year on gas. But its something.

 

Sorry if you already figured this out, I realized I only read page 1, and who knows what could have happened by page 2, you might have already done all these calculations, haha. Oh well.