Thoughts on Electic Vehicles

Thoughts on Electic Vehicles 

by Todd Richardson

In the past, I have felt like EV’s would not be something people would choose to drive and use unless the EV fits their lifestyle and driving habits. The EV and Hybrid Electric Vehicles HEV’s, at first, seemed to be a movement or a type of worldly religion and were being adopted by people who believed they were being responsible for the environment by using these types of cars. As it turns out, the first cars of this sort were HEV’s, and they became extremely efficient at using gas and electricity pushing 50+ mpg. This became more attractive to people as gas prices continued to rise and fuel efficiency was important to their budgets. These HEV’s fit the bill for their current situation which fueled the need for more efficient cars or cars that didn’t use high priced gasoline. In 2021, I purchased my first plug in HEV, a Chevy Volt and have enjoyed the efficiency and low cost.

I always felt like EV’s would not be an option for people because the cost of electricity had risen due to inflation and is near the cost of gasoline in m/kwh vs mpg. The average m/kwh is 3-4 m/kwh but varies greatly depending on driving conditions and climate. Efficiency goes down if it is driven in mountainous and cold regions because it takes more of the battery energy to push up hill than is gained coasting downhills and it takes more energy to keep the occupants warm or cool during different climatic conditions. In our area, if an EV gets 4 m/kwh and a kwh costs 14.5 cents and for an average of 50 mpg gasoline equivalent, we will need approximately 12.5 kwh of electricity which equates to about $1.81. This is calculated by taking 50 miles and dividing by 4 m/kwh which is 12.5 and multiplying by .145. The cost of gasoline is hovering around $3-3.50/gallon, so the cost of operating electrical vehicles is lower if the cost of electricity is no more than about 21 cents/kwh. According to the latest data, the average electricity cost is about 18 cents/kwh, so EV operation is a little over half the cost of gasoline per mile. The cost of fast charge electricity is around 40-50 cents per kwh. This equates to about 6.25/gallon of equivalent gasoline. At these fast chargers the cost of operation is now close to double that of gasoline. As you can see, the cost of operation is not constant, and it compounds based on convenience.

Charging time has also become a variable and discourages EV ownership. The average time to charge an EV using a level 2 charger is 4-10 hours. The variables in charge time are battery size, charger speed, state of charge and environmental factors. EV’s now have a fast charge option that uses 480V AC electricity and is converted to DC voltage at the charging point which allows for a recharge to 80 percent of battery capacity in about 30 minutes. Fast chargers will need to become more available but because they cost more, the cost of electricity is raised. The time spent with the charger is time you will never get back, but as we adapt to this, we could choose constructive activities while waiting for the charge, therefore if we can control ourselves during this charging time, we can recharge ourselves.     

As technology continues to develop with EV’s, electricity use will become more efficient, charging times will decrease and it is hard to say what electricity prices will do, but we can only imagine this will go up. New types of batteries are on the horizon that require less carbon to produce, resources are more plentiful, kwh per pound of metal ion is better, metal ion is more environmentally friendly, so battery cost could go down while battery performance could go up. We will have to wait and see what comes of these new technologies and how it might change our driving habits.