What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[gtaus]

Annual EV Car Show

Our local electric company hosts an annual EV car show. I got a chance to talk to some EV car owners about their vehicles. One guy had his Tesla for 10 years. On his model, he got about 220 miles per full charge, claiming that his battery health is at 85% after 10 years. That's better than what I would have thought. I asked him about the long-term costs of operating and maintaining his Tesla. He said he was keeping track of all his expenses and that his EV expenses were 1/5 that of his gas car. In 10 years, he only has had to replace one headlight and a set of tires. He currently has 100,000 miles on his car. Because of his model, he often gets free charges at Tesla power stations. Otherwise, he charges at home at about 3 cents per Kwh.

I had to ask CoPilot AI how that compares to a gas car...

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Let’s break this down and build a clean equivalency between EV cost per mile and ICE mpg, using your numbers:

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Conclusion​

To match the cost of driving an EV charged at 3¢/kWh, a gas-powered car would need to get ~350 miles per gallon. That’s 10× better than a Prius, and far beyond any current ICE vehicle.

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That is an eye opener! One electric company (not mine) has a reduced rate to charge your EV at night between 10pm and 6am charging only 1 cent per kwh. I guess they just want to keep their plant running through the night and offer the reduced rate to encourage some demand during those dark hours.

All my cars are still gas, but they are all paid for in full and mostly in good running condition. Dear Wife and I don't put many miles on our vehicles this stage of our life, so I don't imagine buying an EV would save us all that much money. I do like to think about getting an EV as a second car if we lose one of our vehicles. EV prices continue to come down while the technology improves every year.

There were a few displays with battery outdoor lawn tools and ebikes. I have converted almost all my outdoor equipment to battery years ago and that has saved me a lot of money. My battery tools are just lasting years and years. My old gas engines on my tools lasted an average of 2-3 years before the carb fouled up and I would have to get a new one. Batteries are expensive, but the Li-Ion batteries I have are lasting more than 10 years.

I would love to get an ebike, but can't justify the cost of $2,000 for something I can only use maybe 6 or 7 months out of the year here in northern Minnesota. Also, I don't live in town, so I think I might not use it nearly as much as someone running quick errands around town. But an ebike would be nice.

Anyways, it was a good EV show and I like seeing the improvements year after year.

 

[BDutch]

Anyways, it was a good EV show and I like seeing the improvements year after year

I missed a huge reason why my husband and I ride an EV. Its a way to reduce the use of gasoline in combination with solar panels. We prefer to load the car during the day when the sun is up.

It costs 0ct/kwh after the investment. And doesn’t contribute to greenhouse gasses either after manufacturing and delivery.

There are more things to life then saving money. A glass of excellent wine in good company make me happier than saving money. So is reducing greenhouse gasses with the thought that it makes the world a better place to live in.