19 October 2010

Electricity vs. Gasoline

How expensive is it to drive an electric car vs. a "regular" car (gasoline or diesel)?

I have a very efficient (and slow) VW Golf Diesel.

Where I live, mileage is measured as litres/100km. The Golf gets 5.1L/100, which works out to more than 46 mpg.

If I were to sell my Golf and get an electric car, how much would I pay to go 100km?

The Tesla Model S gets about 29kwh/100km, and the Nissan Leaf gets about 15 kwh/100km.

A kwh costs about 10 cents. That works out to 2.90€/100km for a car faster than a Lotus, and only 1.50 €/100km for the Leaf.

Diesel costs about 1.20 €/litre, so I'm paying about 6.12€/100km to drive my Golf. I should get the Tesla.