EVs run at half the cost, but better off with green energy

An extensive trial of electric vehicles in the state of Victoria has found that the fuel costs of EVs are less than half that of petrol cars, and widespread adoption could deliver around $20 billion of savings to the state by 2040 – mostly to the pockets of consumers.

An interim report from the $5 million Victorian Government Electric Vehicle Trial admits that these operating costs are deceptive, because the upfront cost of EVs is still much costlier than petrol vehicles. But these purchasing costs are expected to fall sharply in coming years, while the fuel costs of petrol vehicles can be expected to rise.

The report gives a detailed insight into how EVs could be adopted in Victoria – the cost of household and public charging stations, the question of whether corporates provide free charging for employees, and how practical it is to offer them at a cost or even for free in shopping centres. It also cites the considerable barriers to adoption.

The one downbeat element of the report, however, was the conclusion that having an EV in Victoria would not actually be cleaner than a petrol car, because of the high emissions of the state’s brown coal power plants. But an EV running on renewables – either by purchasing green electricity from a retailer or by having rooftop solar, for instance, would deliver environmental benefits within a few years.

So far the story of EVs in Australia has been one of slow take-up. This should be expected, because like any technology such as mobile phones or rooftop solar, or even battery storage, the “early adopters” are those with a particular interest in technology and/or the environment, or in making a statement.

“Right now, electric vehicles are expensive,” the report says. But it notes that prices have fallen 30 per cent in two years, and would likely fall further in coming years. By 2020, the report suggests, the cost advantage of an electric vehicle would outweigh the purchase price penalty for most Victorian drivers. The estimated $20 billion economic benefit to consumers by 2040 includes the cost of the EV.

The good news is that the average cost to run their electric vehicle on renewable energy was between $7 and $10 per week. This is about half of what it would cost to run an equivalent petrol vehicle, with none of the emissions.  The estimate was based on the cost of electricity, including a premium for green power of 25c/kWh.

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One of the barriers to EV adoption is the cost of establishing the charging network. The costs of intalling household charging infrastructure  ranged from less than $100 for a standard wall socket to around $500 for an entry-level dedicated EV charging outlet, and up to $2,500 for a fully-featured dedicated EV charging outlet.

Depending on the state and needs of the household – including distance from the point of supply, condition and capacity of the electrical supply board, the charging infrastructure could range  in price from $392 to more than $6,000. But the average was around $1,750. Having the whole “home charging solution”, which might include smart technology to dictate when the car could be charged, would likely cost between $2,000 and $3,000. Electricity supply upgrades, charging circuit complications, and shared parking arrangements could double this cost.

The report found that most charging would be done at night-time, although households with PV – who are mostly on time of use meters in Victoria – were more likely to charge the car in off-peak periods overnight. Most participants would agree to have their charging managed by “smart charging”  systems that would identify the cheapest options for charging, avoid peak network drama, and so avoid costly network investment. But as this graph below shows, if charging is done at work, that creates a much different profile.

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On the question of work-place charging, the trial found that at around $5,000, charging outlet costs are generally higher than for home charging due to the preference for increased functionality and durability.

The question of who pays for that charging is interesting. Drivers felt it should either be free, or paid for at commercial electricity rates – which would be less than household rates. There was a suggestion that charging services could come as part of a salary package.  They can also be incorporated as part of their green building certification. One study found that a driver who did a 40km commute each way would save nearly $1,500 a year on fuel costs even if he/she paid commercial rate at the workplace for charging.

On the question of emissions, the paper found that the impacts arising from vehicle operation far outweigh those in relation to vehicle production, even allowing for an EV battery replacement over the vehicle life. Vehicle disposal impacts, including those of the EV battery, were found to be negligible due to the high expected rate of material recycling.

The dominant influence of vehicle operation on EV life-cycle impacts is the way in which electricity is made, and in Victoria, that is a key issue,l as this graph below illustrates. But an electric vehicle operating on renewable energy may provide a net benefit in terms of life-cycle carbon emissions within three years of operation, and a saving of over 50 per cent across the 20-year average Victorian vehicle lifetime.

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Comments

9 responses to “EVs run at half the cost, but better off with green energy”

  1. Bob_Wallace Avatar
    Bob_Wallace

    ” at around $5,000, charging outlet costs are generally higher than for home charging due to the preference for increased functionality and durability”

    That seems incredibly expensive to me. Wire and conduit are not that expensive, neither is trenching. The outlets don’t need to be chargers, EVs have built in chargers. The outlets need to be nothing more than a meter, a “cell phone” and a switching transistor. Manufactured in mass these should be less than $100.

    Park, plug in, let your EV ‘talk’ to the meter via the charging cable. Tell it how much to charge and what account to bill. Let the grid determine the actual time of charging (dispatchable load).

    1. Peter Campbell Avatar
      Peter Campbell

      The idea of letting the grid decide when to charge your car is fine so long as you can over-ride and charge at other times if you need to, in which case you pay the ordinary electricity tariff rather than the discounted one.
      In the meantime, just a timer and ordinary power point is enough to make use of fixed time of use metering and you can occasionally charge at peak rates if you need to do so, knowing that it will cost a bit more.

      1. Bob_Wallace Avatar
        Bob_Wallace

        I can’t imagine a system that wouldn’t let you decide when to charge. You’d just have to pay more if you pick a more expensive time period.

        Going to a Level 3/rapid charger for a quick charge is likely to be the most expensive way to fill your batteries.

        Letting the grid do the controlling rather than a timer should mean the cheapest rate. Dispatchable load has value to grid managers and they now pay commercial users to let them cut back supply for those users at time in order to cover other demands.

        I’m sure grid managers would give EV owners a better deal if they turned the time of charge over to grid managers. On the US 120 vac grid the average EV owner (~36 miles/57 km) driver needs only ~1.5 hours of charge time per night. With AU’s higher voltage grid that would be cut in half. That would give grid operators a large amount of flexible load which would make their job a lot easier.

        1. Peter Campbell Avatar
          Peter Campbell

          Yes, very often I would return home and be happy to let the grid decide even though I have a battery capacity less than the commercial EVs. Just so long as the battery is full the next morning. That could very likely mean the grid turns on the car charger in the early hours of the morning when the wind picks up, undercuts the electricity price of other generators, but demand is low. Other times, particularly weekends, I tend to do longer trips and multiple shorter trips through the day and immediate charging through the day becomes important.

          1. Bob_Wallace Avatar
            Bob_Wallace

            Sure. Daily/weekend schedules will vary for many. Also, when EVs become longer range, say 300 km, some people may offer the grid operators even more flexibility.

            Someone might have a daily driving routine of 30 km. They might be comfortable with having a 100 km minimum charge in the morning and they could turn that additional 200 km over to grid discretion.

            Grid operators might normally keep them charged to 200 km which would allow them to skip charging that particular EV for up to three nights if supply was low. And then they could use the last 100 km as a place to dump surplus wind rather than curtail turbines.

            Or they might charge them up to the full 300 km when supply was normal and then create more “skip-able” load during a forecast number of low supply nights .

            With a lot of ‘flexible-charge’ EVs available grid operators would have considerable multi-day flexibility. They could plan as far in advance as a reliable weather forecast allowed.

            Owners could set routine M-F minimum levels with higher/lower levels for weekend days or whatever fits their needs. If they find out that they are going to need to drive further on a given day then a quick cell phone/computer message to the the EV would change that day’s minimum.

            And, worst case, if plans change there would be the Level 3/rapid charge. If one unexpectedly found that they needed to drive full range then a 20 minute charge would do the job.

  2. Chris Dalitz Avatar
    Chris Dalitz

    Recently did some analysis on my first forty days logbook in my i-MiEV
    Total of 2678 kms, daily average 67kms, shortest trip 30kms, longest 115kms (2 bars left)
    Average kms/kWh of 7.066kms/kWh (based on the vehicle bar meter)
    Nearly all the above driving was one person only, and no heating or air-con…..
    Now the weather is getting colder I expect I may have to use the heater a bit…..
    All charging to date has been at Off Peak TOU rates (17.37c/kWh plus GST) which gives an average of $1-81/day
    I hope to have my Off Peak 1 circuit installed in the next few weeks, to further lower costs (10.82 c/kWh plus GST) = $1-13 per day….
    I also plan to add some more Solar panels in Spring, and use them on Weekends……for further cost reductions……
    Comparable IC vehicle (Cruze or similar) based on 7 litres/100km and $1.50/litre is $7.04/day

    1. Miles Harding Avatar
      Miles Harding

      Hi Chris, from another i-Miev’er.

      Very much my experience. Your ‘fuel’ use is very similar to my experience. One thing I have noted is that high speed freeway travel consumes the battery a lot faster than slow speed roads. If I were to drive at 100kph, the range would be reduced to about 90km and staying below 60kph, probably extended to 150+km. (A fellow in Hungary has managed to make an i-Miev go 220km on a charge by driving at 40kph all the way)

      The heater is very hard on the battery, but only needs to be run for a few minutes to clear the windscreen and warm up the car a bit. Mitsubishi has a ‘recirc’ mode on the vent system that prevents cold air getting is. The heated drivers seat is a good offset and doesn’t affect range at all. I have found the air conditioner to be capable and not affect the driving range severely.

      So far I have only had to resort to the ICE station wagon a few of times for large loads and country trips and once due to battery charge management, I should have done a top-up charge at work that day.

  3. Peter Campbell Avatar
    Peter Campbell

    I have been driving a DIY converted electric car for 4 years/40,000km. I am not surprised by the evening peak for residential charging. If an owner had time of use metering there would be an incentive to have a timer on the power point to delay charging till after the evening peak. That could halve the cost of ‘fuel’.
    I expect a typical user would quickly get into the habit of simply plugging in whenever they are home so that they generally leave home with full charge, or at least a top-up if going out again within an hour or two.
    People forever ask me about how long it takes to charge (meaning from empty) but that is rarely relevant. What matters more is that I get a useful amount of top up in an hour or two from an ordinary power point.
    I pay extra for accredited GreenPower (http://www.greenpower.gov.au), and my DIY conversion would be a little less efficient than an iMIEV due to some unavoidable compromises when converting. Nonetheless, the cost of running the car is less than any petrol car.

    Any electrician can install a standard 15A outlet in your garage or carport with a built in timer. It should only cost a few hundred dollars, not thousands.

  4. James Hilden-Minton Avatar
    James Hilden-Minton

    Tesla Model S coming to Australia soon with a range of 425km on a 85 kWh charge. Tesla may also install SuperCharger stations which can provide a 50% charge in 20 – 30 minutes. These stations are solar powered and the charge is free to Tesla owners.

    Disclosure, I am an enthusiastic TSLA shareholder.

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