Electric vehicle charging cost

Full disclosure, we own 2 Tesla’s, an S and an X.

There are, in this area, very few free charging stations that are convenient to anywhere we go and will be staying long enough to be of any use. Even a modest ‘top up’ charge of say ~50% to ~80% takes an hour or more even on a Super Charger. If you are taking an hour out of your day just to get a ‘free’ charge is not free.

The other issue that is becoming a big problem is residential chargers in condos. Very few places want to install a charge station where the cost of electricity is borne by the residents and EV owners don’t want to pick up the bill if it’s not for their exclusive use. That often means either the ‘lost hour’ mentioned above or parking the car somewhere other than at home.

In our case we installed 2 charging stations in the warehouse, at considerable cost I might add, and the cars are there fairly often overnight.

The other sticky issue popping up, at least up here, is taxes. If an employer, or in my case my company, pays for my gasoline for personal use it’s a taxable benefit. My accountant told me has a client who is being audited (presumably someone made a call) and the tax man wants a bunch of money from them because they charge their car at work. They are then getting an untaxed benefit. Oops.

IMHO the cost of electricity is only a small part of the cost of ‘charging’.

valhalla360 wrote:

drsteve wrote:

The article is misleading in that there is no mention whatsoever of the significant routine maintenance advantage enjoyed by electric cars. The author points to battery depreciation as being the big cost difference while ignoring that many conventional vehicles incur major engine or transmission repair costs within the ten year battery life span.

Hard to believe a guy who presents himself as a financial analyst specializing in the auto industry, i.e. an expert, would miss something like that.

I hear a lot of people talk about that but engine related maintenance and repairs...$20 oil change once or twice a year....and nothing else...suspensions, tires etc...those need repair and replacement regardless. If the EV has regenerative braking you might save a set of brake pads every 2-3 years.

This is fairly typical with modern ICE cars and is supported by the fact that I've yet to see an article that breaks down the costs on a statistically valid basis..it's all just generalizations like your comment.

True. Any reasonably new vehicle isn't going to need a lot of maintenance until you hit mileage for a timing belt and tranny flush.

I'm sure that those electric vehicles have their own breed of gremlins.

Always park next to a currant bush :)

Both sides of the electric care issue use ten sacks of steer manure to weight their side of the teeter-totter.

In a strictly "motive power sense", disregarding battery cost, electric wins. Battery cost is belabored by type of battery and mfg's replacement cost. Also, what will the price of a battery replacement be in 10 yrs, assuming life of battery pack is 10 yrs?

As for reviews and analysis, for every adopter or owner of an electric vehicle, I see about 10 (or more) that frown. Fortunately, we are going to come full circle to Benz's first powered wagons which were battery powered. Beyond that, there may lie a fuel cell that delivers tremendous energy at a low financial and environmental cost.

drsteve wrote:

The article is misleading in that there is no mention whatsoever of the significant routine maintenance advantage enjoyed by electric cars. The author points to battery depreciation as being the big cost difference while ignoring that many conventional vehicles incur major engine or transmission repair costs within the ten year battery life span.

Hard to believe a guy who presents himself as a financial analyst specializing in the auto industry, i.e. an expert, would miss something like that.

I hear a lot of people talk about that but engine related maintenance and repairs...$20 oil change once or twice a year....and nothing else...suspensions, tires etc...those need repair and replacement regardless. If the EV has regenerative braking you might save a set of brake pads every 2-3 years.

This is fairly typical with modern ICE cars and is supported by the fact that I've yet to see an article that breaks down the costs on a statistically valid basis..it's all just generalizations like your comment.

pianotuna wrote:
I wonder which oil company funded the "research"?

Apparently it wasn't one of the many that fund "research" proving how great EV's are.

The problem is both sides manipulate the data to get the answer they are looking for.

Seeking Alpha is a biased rag that is anti EV, pro oil.

pianotuna wrote:
I wonder which oil company funded the "research"?

Seeking Alpha is a well-regarded financial site, which apparently did its own financial analysis. There is a nice comparison to other super-efficient vehicles, such as the new Honda insight and Toyota Prius.

pianotuna wrote:
I wonder which oil company funded the "research"?

It's not research. It's some self appointed stock guru playing with his calculator to support his short position in Tesla stock.

wanderingaimlessly wrote:
Interesting article, Gas is cheaper to fuel than a Tesla, which on top of charging cost, has a battery which apparently depreciates $1000 a year.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4160351-tesla-model-3-costs-charge-gasoline-car

The article is misleading in that there is no mention whatsoever of the significant routine maintenance advantage enjoyed by electric cars. The author points to battery depreciation as being the big cost difference while ignoring that many conventional vehicles incur major engine or transmission repair costs within the ten year battery life span.

Hard to believe a guy who presents himself as a financial analyst specializing in the auto industry, i.e. an expert, would miss something like that.