NPV Economic Analysis Between EV and ICE Automobile??

[jclay]

Have any of you performed a net present value (or even just raw $) analysis comparison between the total ownership and operating costs of ICE and electric automobiles (same functional capability of the vehicles assumed)?

Somebody please make my day and say "here is the spreadsheet", else I'll have to work my brain more than I'm used to in retirement!

I'm also considering an electric cargo bike which would take care of just about all my local driving as well as a fair bit of recreational driving down towards the coast which is usually less than about 50 miles.

[Mark Kelly]

Very dependent on charging costs and kilometers used.

We charge ours from the house solar as much as possible*, effective cost for this is the loss of the feed-in tariff, ours is 6 c / kW.hr. At the other end of the scale public fast chargers here charge ~66 c / kW.hr, so eleven times the cost.

We live in a regional area so long average trip lengths mean we do about 30,000 km per year. Cost per kilometre is thus more important than it would be if you live in the city and do say 12,000 km per year.

Capital cost is about 50% higher for EV vs equivalent ICE at the lower end. At the moment residual value at 5 years is probably equivalent but it's quite likely that residual for ICEs is going to plummet in the next few years, possibly to near zero.

Another major factor is service cost, much lower for EV than ICE. With an EV all you really have to look after is tyres, brakes and bearings. The brakes don't get used nearly as much due to regen taking care of 75% of braking needs but this is partially offset by the EV being about 30% heavier than equivalent ICE. Tyres for EVs tend to be more expensive than standard and wear relatively quickly.


* We installed a Myenergi "Zappi" (their spelling) which monitors the solar and the grid and has settings so you can choose how much of each gets used.

[fastupslowdown]

I was just having a conversation about maintenance costs on an combustion car vs an electric one. Virtually the only part of the an electric vehicle that might have a repair issue over time is the battery which comes with a warranty of 8-10 years. A lot fewer moving parts. No oil changes, no tune -ups, no alternators, no fluids. -Mike G

[rwsaunders]

The Washington Post recently ran an article and their take is that the operational costs depend upon what the costs of electricity and fuel are in your area. Cheap gas/high electricity = gas and High gas/cheap electricity = EV. More to your questions, Edmunds has also been publishing true cost to own information on most cars for years.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/clima...e-vs-gasoline/

https://www.edmunds.com/tesla/model-3/2022/cost-to-own/

[Scott G.]

Don't forget car insurance, what an insurance company thinks
is expensive to repair or qualifies as a "hi-performance" vehicle
can be a nasty surprise.

[bigbill]

I was surprised by the insurance costs on the Edmunds link. I pay half that for my F250 diesel pickup, which costs more to purchase and arguably will cost more to repair. EVs make sense in some parts of the country, but out west (not California), their usefulness is limited because of infrastructure. One of my neighbors has a Tesla that he uses to commute but, like me, has a large pickup for his travel trailer. I can't yet replace my truck with an EV and pull my travel trailer. I hope the free market and capitalism create demand, not the government. In 2012, commercial biodiesel was prohibitively expensive. Now, it is competitive with dead dinosaur diesel. Ford is working with Tesla to share compatibility with Superchargers, so some standardization could help lower costs and improve the customer experience.

We just need to keep the bicycle industry out of it. We see what they did with bottom bracket standards.

[Chik]

If you're using the term "ownership" loosely and include the option of leasing or in any case the cost of financing an outright purchase, then it's worth looking at the interest rates charged in your area based on whether it's an EV, plug-in hybrid or ICE. Over here, the rate variance is significant. If you take EV as the baseline, hybrids attract a rate of +1%, ICE +2%. Therefore, an EV with a sticker price $10k higher than an ICE could actually cost you the same when considering the financing cost. I think that's because, as Mark already mentioned, the depreciation of an ICE, the collateral, will be much faster, especially in the EU where the regulatory deadline to switch to EVs is looming. At that point, the local secondary market will disappear, forcing all second hand ICE to be sold in remote places like the Middle East, Africa, FSU and, of course, the US.

[sailor]

I’m pretty sure tco is lower on our leaf than my cargo bike. Leaf was $7000 used and is basically not depreciating, insurance is a few hundred per year and we put new tires on it. E cargo bike was $5000+ accessories, eats a chain every 1000 miles and has needed 2 tires, a pair of new wheels and a replacement frame in 8000 miles/5years. It is also probably only worth $2500 now.
I can afford to have both but the leaf is cheaper and more useful and my wife can use it but not my bike so that is an easy choice if I had to make it.

[jclay]

Who knows...hurricane Idalia might make make new transpo mandatory and the economic analysis moot! I wouldn't cry about it. Insurance? Doesn't everybody park their car underneath a dozen 100' pines during a Cat 3 hurricane?? Gosh Mr/Ms insurance adjuster, who knew there might be a problem with that?

It's in the carport....but that's no guarantee. Tomorrow will be an interesting day. Long time since we had a serious blow in Tallahassee but I'm glad to see my FSU sister Steph Abrams on the job; she and Big Jim will bring us all home safely (as Jim leans into the wind at a 45...and.... kids don't do this at home)!! The TV weather drama is fun, and a lot more fun from a distance; it is a serious storm; surfboards are in the house, not on the car! Time to hunker down. Got the beer, chips, mac'n cheese, fuel for the little generator...if the big sticks will stay vertical we're good.

Cheers!