Side-by-side comparison | Gasoline vs electric vehicle costs using San Diego fuel prices

CBS 8 appears to be like at a 2018 Hyundai gasoline auto vs . a 2019 Fiat EV.

SAN DIEGO — The State of California aims to have 8 million electric powered vehicles on the highway by the calendar year 2030.  But is it actually less expensive to generate an electric automobile (EV) instead than a gasoline car or truck?

CBS 8 did a aspect-by-facet comparison making use of present-day gas rates in San Diego.

Brian Hall is the Artwork Director at CBS 8. He drives an all-electric powered Fiat and he does not have rooftop solar.

“It’s a 2019. It’s the electrical variation of the Fiat 500. And, it truly is just a tiny vehicle to scoot close to town in,” said Hall. “If we had solar it would be pretty much free to push.”

1st, Corridor billed up his EV to 100 %.  Then, he drove just 10 miles.

For the reason that Hall owns an electrical auto, SDG&E gives him a reduced fee for charging his automobile immediately after midnight.

“Because I cost at evening right after midnight, I get a particular time-of-working day fee which is less than 20 cents for every kilowatt hour,” explained Corridor.

But for this exam, we are heading to assume Hall does not cost following midnight and we will use the average San Diego County electrical power level of 36.5 cents per kilowatt hour, as identified for December 2021 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

After driving 10 miles, Hall re-charged his car or truck to 100%.  It took 2.88 hours, and we multiplied that by the average charge of 36.5 cents per hour.

“Topping up my automobile immediately after driving 10 miles expense $1.05,” claimed Corridor.

So, all over again, a 10 mile generate in Hall’s electric motor vehicle expense him $1.05 to recharge.

Above the future eight decades, San Diego County is heading to want far more than 100,000 further electric powered automobile charging stations at an estimated price tag of extra than $1 billion, in accordance to the California Power Fee and recent price tag estimates of EV charging station installations.

As a end result, there is a discussion above whether SDG&E ratepayers might have to foot the invoice for some of those installations.

Will SDG&E install a portion of the charging stations and then use for reimbursement of the funds costs, whereby the fees demonstrate up on ratepayer costs?

Or, will the Point out get bids from non-public providers, and fund incentives to the non-public sector to inspire possession and routine maintenance of charging stations across San Diego?

One billion bucks is a good deal of money, so you can see why there is a large debate over irrespective of whether ratepayers are going to have to foot the monthly bill for some of people big fees.

For the 2nd part of CBS 8’s motor vehicle examination, we applied a 2018 Hyundai Kona, topping off the tank at a community fuel station. Subsequent, we hit the street for the 10-mile drive.

The price tag of gasoline at the Tierrasanta gasoline station was $4.39 for each gallon.  After 10 miles of driving, it took a minor bit extra than a fifty percent a gallon of gasoline to top off the tank, costing $2.54.

That’s additional than two times as considerably as Brian Hall compensated to charge his EV after driving the exact same mileage which, once again, was $1.05.

Our unscientific take a look at showed that driving an electrical car was less costly than driving a gasoline-powered vehicle, at the very least for the unique automobiles utilized in our case in point.  A 10-mile travel may possibly not be indicative of overall common prices.

And, of class, the electric vehicle created zero emissions.

Check out: How family appliances are polluting air in California (Feb 14, 2022)