What costs more: Electric or Gas?
If you are looking strictly at costs, what makes more sense and for how long?
This chart is extremely simplified, I know there are many more factors that go into each type of car, but I'm looking at just simple, regular maintenance schedules and costs for the average car here.
If anything, I have been too conservative with the cost of the gas cars' average maintenance, but you can still see the cost changes.
There are clearly a number of cars missing here. I've just taken a few of the more common ones from each class.
I will just be looking at the compact and mid-size car class as these are the most popular and they have a number of electric and hybrid cars to compare with. While there are some SUV hybrids, they are not all in the same general class so it wouldn't be fair to compare them.
There are some hybrids and electric cars once you get into the large luxury vehicle classes, but that's not what "New Budget Cars 101" is about....yet.
So here it is: a very simplified, rough, comparison of fully electric cars vs. hybrids vs. gas cars.
I have a big Excel spreadsheet that shows all the formulas and stuff, but to make it simpler I will just post the different classes as line graphs. But I will explain some of the "behind the scene" numbers.
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If anything, I have been too conservative with the cost of the gas cars' average maintenance, but you can still see the cost changes.
There are clearly a number of cars missing here. I've just taken a few of the more common ones from each class.
I will just be looking at the compact and mid-size car class as these are the most popular and they have a number of electric and hybrid cars to compare with. While there are some SUV hybrids, they are not all in the same general class so it wouldn't be fair to compare them.
There are some hybrids and electric cars once you get into the large luxury vehicle classes, but that's not what "New Budget Cars 101" is about....yet.
So here it is: a very simplified, rough, comparison of fully electric cars vs. hybrids vs. gas cars.
I have a big Excel spreadsheet that shows all the formulas and stuff, but to make it simpler I will just post the different classes as line graphs. But I will explain some of the "behind the scene" numbers.
- The prices were made by looking at both Canadian and American car sites and mixing the price differences with the cars having a decent trim (no base models).
- I found the average distance each car could go on 1 charge or tank of gas by combining the City and Highway fuel efficiency numbers and by how large each tank or battery was.
- By combining these two numbers, and seeing what the average cost of gas / electricity was for Toronto (a good representative city for most places) I found what the price was to "fill up" each car.
- Then with an average of 25,000 km driven by most people per year, I just divided with the distance a car could go on one fill up and then multiplied by the cost to fill up to get the yearly "fuel costs".
- Gas cars need oil and filter changes every 6,000 km, so 25,000/6,000 means about 4 oil changes per year, at an average of $75 each (unless you do it yourself, which most people do not) so about $300/ year.
- So, fuel + oil costs added together would get each car's "yearly running costs".
- Add in an average brake pad change very 70-80,000 km at about $100 per car.
- Add in emissions checks that have to be done every year or so after the car is 7 years old (about $40 each time).
- Add brake line checks and power steering work after about 100,000 km (about $500).
There are obviously a ton of extra costs, but they become too variable per car and driving habits. So I am just looking at the most basic work that essentially every car needs done at the same time. Some people may make the complaint that replacing the battery in fully electric cars will cost a lot of money and will happen sooner than later. First, there are almost no reports of batteries dying prematurely. Second, the cost to replace the Nissan Leaf battery has been announced by the company to only be about $6,000, so other batteries should be similarly priced for that size.
These charts are also factoring that most of the driving is a pretty consistent amount every day (because most people work about 5 days a week in the same location ans run errands on the weekends). So if looked at it like that: 25,000 km/year, divided by 365 days = an average of 68.5 km/ day (lets just say 70 km/day). When you look at the numbers like this, even with most electric car's low range, it is still possible to do the daily drive, so that's why the electric cars are fine in this list.
Without further ado, the super accurate and 100% perfect comparison chart for Electric vs. Hybrid vs. Gas cars:
Compact Cars:
It's pretty clear here that the fully electric cars start off as the most expensive by a fair amount for this class of cars. However, it is also pretty clear that their annual expenses do not increase significantly, so after about 8 years they actually are the cheapest options. Getting back to the very unlikely problem of having to replace a battery sooner than later: if the costs are only about $6,000, then after 8 years if you change the battery, it's still less expensive than almost all the other cars to own. The hybrids do their best. but because they are still tied to gasoline and the maintenance/ problems it brings, they just can't catch up with the full electric cars.
One interesting thing is that, even with the different fuel efficiency that these gas cars have, they all seem to stay in essentially the same place as they started, expect for the Honda Fit, which starts off more expensive than the Toyota Corolla but manages to become just slightly less expensive in year 10.
Midsize Cars:
Now, it may be a bit more difficult to read this chart, but I know if I didn't add some of these cars people would say that the list isn't compatible enough. So there, almost every major car in the category so the comparison can truly be made.
Unfortunately there are no fully electric cars in this class yet, so plug-in hybrids are the best I could do. There are two cars that stand out right away, the Chevy Volt and the Toyota Prius Plug-In. Both of these cars start off significantly more expensive than the rest in their class however, the Prius Plug-In makes a huge comeback. It starts off second most expensive and ends up in the dead center for total cost after 10 years. On the other hand, the Chevy Volt stays more expensive than the rest. There is a good reason for this difference; the Chevy Volt's gas engine uses premium fuel and the gas engine has a small tank and not the best efficiency. Another interesting thing is that the veteran of hybrid technology, the Toyota Prius, starts off in the mid range for initial costs and becomes the least expensive after just 5 years! This in some ways proves how technology that started off quite expensive a few years ago, gets better, more efficient, and less expensive over time.
The outcome?
It is what you want it to be. If these charts to you say "look, gas cars are cheaper at first and for the first 4 years!" then you probably don't like keeping cars for more than 3 years. However, if you are switching cars every 4 years or so, then you will be spending quite a bit more money in the long run.
If you look at these charts and say "wow, if I get an electric car or a hybrid I will be spending less money in the long run than a cheaper gas car", then you can see the big picture and are a good financial planner.
If you look at these charts and say "electric cars cost less over time, with less maintenance, AND no pollution? Awesome!" You my friend are on the road to becoming more environmentally friendly and more efficient with your money.
