Renewable Revolution

Agelbert
Zach, can you recommend a maintenance cost comparison study of an EV versus a gas guzzler covering several years? The best info I could find says the cost for an EV is 3 to 4 cents a mile versus 5 or 6 cents a mile for a gas guzzler. I think that operation and maintenenace for and EV is more like about a tenth of gas guzzzler costs. Nobody wants to just come out and say that gasoline is GUARANTEED to go UP while electricity is GUARANTEED to go DOWN as the years go by.

Also, I wish the up front cost of the vehicle was NOT figured into the operation and maintenance in these cost estimates. The glaring difference in actual day to day costs is what is important after you buy or lease the vehicle.
 
For example a "used" 2016 Leaf with less than a 1,000 miles on it can be purchased (WITH the full factury guarantee!) for less than $17,000. THIS is the kind of vehicle that should be used for cost comparison of operation and maintenance. I'm sure that leaf can be operated and maintained for much less than half what it costs to do the same for a gas guzzler.

I welcome comments and suggestions on how to get the best, accurate and objective info.
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Matt > agelbert • an hour ago
Taking into account what we paid for our solar panels, we're probably paying $0.022 per mile for our EV.

My 2004 Honda probably costs $0.083 per mile just for gas. I'm probably averaging about $0.04/mile for ICE maintenance: oil change, timing belt, oil pan, etc... No point including tires, wipers, 12v battery, etc, since both cars have those, and they are very cheap compared to their lifetime. Hopefully, I'll never have to find out how much it takes to replace the EV's drive battery.

Edit: So that leaves a 10 cent difference per mile, before taking into account the damage done by fossil fuels. If you think a carbon tax should be $100/metric ton, add $0.03 per mile for the Honda.