Here’s how to calculate the cost of driving an EV per km (or mile)
Get your head around this one!
It’s all about efficiency
When it comes to knowing how much we’re spending for every mile driven, we’re really just trying to get a handle on a benchmark of efficiency. One that puts our energy use into some kind of financial context. But before we financially benchmark our efficiency, we must get a handle on our EV’s overall energy efficiency.
EVs measure energy efficiency in a few different ways, and those measurements affect how we calculate how much it costs to drive one kilometer or one mile.
A rule of thumb
If you’re concerned about how much money you’re spending when you drive your EV, there are two very simple rules of thumb to follow.
If your car measures energy consumption in kWh per 100 km you want the kWh figure displayed on your car’s dashboard to be as low as you can get it!
However, if your EV measures efficiency in kilometers per kWh, you want the kilometer figure to be as big as possible. In this case, kWh is a constant, so you want to maximize how far you go on ever single kWh of power.
Pro tips
All these calculations are borne from the same fundamental measures: kWh of your EV’s battery, the kWh used to drive somewhere, distance, and the price of electricity.
By figuring out how these relate to one and other, you’ll be able to figure out how much it costs to drive your EV a given distance. You’ll also be able to see at a glance how efficient your driving is, and what the financial impact is.
As you start examining these figures more regularly, you’ll start to get a handle on what’s low-cost and efficient, and what’s not.
It’s worth noting that these calculations only consider the costs of the electricity fueling the EV. EVs are still subject to other running costs that add up over its life.
You’ll still need to replace tires, brake discs, add wind screen washer fluid, and maybe even change lightbulbs from time to time. Even though these costs might only come every few years, they’re still worth factoring in to your car’s overall running costs.
On your daily electric drives though, your biggest cost will be the electricity powering your vehicle. So it pays to get a grip on your per km costs!
Do EVs excite your electrons? Do ebikes get your wheels spinning? Do self-driving cars get you all charged up?
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Story byMatthew Beedham
Matthew is the editor of SHIFT. He likes electric cars, and other things with wheels, wings, or hulls.Matthew is the editor of SHIFT. He likes electric cars, and other things with wheels, wings, or hulls.
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