An electrically-powered car, the Chevrolet Volt, was named North American Car of the Year at the Detroit Auto Show this week. In fact, it was one of two electric cars in the final three along with the Nissan Leaf which should only increase the somewhat spotty popularity electric cars have generated so far.
And one reason for this lack of excitement seems to be confusion over exactly how much it’s going to cost to power these cars.
Edmunds.com analysts report that about 2.4 percent of all the new cars sold in 2010 were hybrid or electric. And even with all the promotion surrounding the Volt and Leaf, Edmunds expects the alternative vehicle market share to rise to just 3.7 percent in 2011 -- to 4.1 percent in 2012 and 4.8 percent in 2013.
Uncertainty
Part of the explanation for the slow consumer acceptance appears to be uncertainty of the new technology. Edmunds says for one thing, people aren’t sure how much it will cost to own these cars. It was Edmunds’ GreenCarAdvisor.com that was among the first media outlets to report that the Chevy Volt is expected to get the equivalent of 93 miles to the gallon while running on battery and the Nissan Leaf is expected to get 99 miles on one charge.
Correlating the electricity costs of an electric car with the fuel costs of a traditional gasoline car has not been an easy task, even for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), let alone for the consumers who may be considering an electric car.
Avoiding sticker shock
Two new Edmunds.com reports should help to demystify this cost so consumers don’t experience sticker shock when refueling.
The first report was written by Edmunds.com Features Editor Carroll Lachnit. In her article, The True Cost of Powering an Electric Car, Lachnit write that the true cost of filling up your electric car turns out to be far more complicated than anyone expected and, in many cases, far more costly than it would appear at first glance. She adds that the “cost of a 'fill-up' depends largely on when and where you recharge it, not to mention the rates of the utility company used."
Lachnit analyzes several electric cars in a variety of regions in the U.S. under different recharging conditions. One interesting discovery: powering a 2011 Nissan Leaf in Hawaii would cost about the same as the fuel costs for a gasoline car that gets an average of 36 mpg. The article also explains how consumers can calculate their real-world costs for powering these cars.
The second report comes from Paul Seredynski, Senior Editor at Edmunds' AutoObserver.com. He writes that in decoding the miles per gallon for an electric car he first looks at the EPA window sticker on electric cars that shows the fuel economy equivalent, or what EPA calls MPGe.
But Seredysnski says that the this rating really doesn't have much to do with fuel economy and that it is only useful for comparing the relative energy consumption of gasoline (or hybrid) cars with that of electric cars. Seredynski also points out that the EPA uses the national average for electricity costs, even though electricity costs vary much more widely than gasoline costs across the country.
Then there’s the higher cost for electric cars in general. Edmunds' GreenCarAdvisor.com's John O'Dell says he expects the expensive nature of pushing new technology into the market should come down over time if sales volumes increase and economies of scale come into play. He adds that while both gas and electricity prices will rise, gasoline prices are likely to rise at a much steeper rate -- increasing the savings an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid.
