Driving A Gasoline Car: It’s More Painful Than You Think!

on October 25, 2014 at 10:13 am

How much does it cost to commute to work or drive across town? The price of gasoline is posted at every corner gas station, but what about the cost of maintenance? What about the cost of unplanned car issues or the cost of waiting hours at an auto-shop to fix your car? Let’s put down all the numbers, and you will totally agree with me: driving a gasoline car is more painful than you think! Gasoline and Electricity, which one is cheaper? The Department of Energy’s eGallon website provides a quick and simple tool that allows drivers to see how much they can save on fuel by using electric cars instead of gasoline cars (click here to find out how much it costs in your state). The price of an eGallon tells consumers how much it costs to drive an electric vehicle the same distance as driving on a gallon of unleaded gasoline in a similar car. It’s that simple. They take the average distance that a gasoline-powered vehicle can drive on a gallon of gas (at the average of 28.2 miles/gallon for comparable 2012 model year cars), and then calculate how much would it cost to drive the average electric vehicles on that same distance. Based on the national average, fueling your car with gasoline costs roughly 3 times more than fueling with electricity:

Gas-powered cars …… $3.67 / mile
Electric cars ……………. $1.74 / mile

Moreover, if you chart the price of gasoline, you’ll notice something else. Gasoline prices often spike up and down erratically because they’re linked to international oil markets. High prices and uncertainty are a heavy burden for American consumers. On the other hand, the cost of electricity is regional and much more stable; therefore, we don’t have to worry about the wild gyrations seen in gas prices. And don’t forget about good shop light, too. Electric cars shine in traffic while gas cars worsen

Electric cars’ regenerative braking captures electricity and improves its range
Gas engines prefer a fixed speed; any variation in speed decreases efficiency, especially in lower gears, especially by the extra fuel used for accelerating

When electric cars idle, they barely use any electricity at all
When gas-powered cars idle, their engines continue to burn fuel at 0 MPG

Accelerating and slowing in a gas engine adds wear to the gears and clutch
Electric cars have only 1 gear (no clutch) and aren’t affected this way at all

How much does auto maintenance cost over time? “Is that “check engine” light on again?” “Didn’t you just have that looked at?” Come to think of it, your car is approaching that age, isn’t it? A bit of a rumble in the engine, a touch more sway in the suspension – you hate to admit it, but every time you take Old Faithful into the shop, the same thought tickles the back of your brain: is it time for a replacement? A replacement that could possibly be found with the help of swapalease.com/lease101/auto-lease-calculator/ to find that new exciting car. In fact, manufacturers anticipate that some components of the car will fail often and that you’ll replace them as part of routine maintenance from someone like Japanese Auto Repair (JapaneseAutoRepair.net) while others will last longer. “It’s, usually, about $500 to $800 each time of replacement,” said an Auto Technician. However, electric vehicles have far fewer moving parts, and the parts are generally far more reliable – meaning there is simply less stuff to maintain, and the parts are unlikely to break anyway. Let’s takes an example, the Tesla Model S.

A study conducted at the Institute for Automotive Research (IFA) at the Nürtingen-Geislingen University in southern Germany, concluded that an EV’s simplicity pays dividends over longer ownership periods.

The Tesla Model S battery-electric luxury car is a remarkable car, and it has elevated the public perception of electric cars to a new level. It’s won awards, thrilled thousands of buyers, and demolished many stereotypes. But among the things you may not know about Tesla is this: the Tesla Model S requires almost no maintenance! Without the valves, camshaft, crankshaft, connecting rods, gears, clutches, and more found in a gasoline car, the Tesla Model S, like any battery-electric car, needs almost no regular adjustment. Everything that needs regular replacement is four tires, two windshield wiper blades and brake pads, which are eventually last many times longer than those on comparable gasoline cars. Currently, a Tesla Model S’s battery (guaranteed for 8 years and unlimited mileage) costs about $12,000 to replace it. However, a German study found that in the next eight years, battery-electric cars will be one-third less expensive to maintain – and many analysts view that number as conservative. To summarize the differences: * Starting Nov 2014, all electric cars can use Tesla’s free charging stations ** Charge in 4-7 hrs overnight or at work; no time looking for gas stations, waiting in line, etc. *** Charge in 6-12 hrs overnight or at work; can swap batteries in 90 seconds **** Tesla Motors has a mandatory annual $600 check-up that includes free new brakes Sources: Fuel economy, Electric car maintenance, Gas car maintenance, So, in the short-run, buying a $10-50,000 electric car is the way to save copious amounts of time and money compared to a gas-powered car, but with that extra $2,500 to $4,000 you’d save annually, you’ll have saved $25,000-40,000 after ten years (more, if you put it in a CD), at which time you’ll probably wish you had spent it on the much more powerful and longer-range Tesla Model S. This article arms you with a little bit more information to compare the cost of driving electric vs. gasoline, but it doesn’t measure the many other benefits of driving on electricity, such as the significant environmental ones, America’s energy security, etc. Instead of spending $1 billion a day on foreign oil, with electric vehicles and other technologies, we can power our cars, homes and businesses with American energy. As electric vehicle technology continues to improve and the cost of electric vehicles continues to fall, more and more Americans are making the switch to electric. If you’re passionate about how much you could save, please share your comments with us. Visit this page to find information about tickets for careless driving of either a gasoline or an electric vehicle.