People who are thinking about buying an electric car for the first time ever have a lot of questions, which is understandable. One of the most common questions people have is how much electricity an electric car uses. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Saving money at the gas pump is a top motivator for going with a plug-in electric vehicle (PEV). However, if the electricity consumption of a PEV is significant your monthly bill from the utility provider could be noticeably higher. You can calculate an estimate by using your kilowatt-hour rate and determining roughly how much electricity an electric car will use. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Gas-powered vehicles have the familiar miles per gallon (MPG) measurement. The MPG tells us how far a vehicle will go on a single gallon of gas (or diesel). <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Measuring fuel efficiency is a little different for electric vehicles. With PEVs, the distance is measured in kWhs per 100 miles. So, in order to calculate how much electricity a PEV will use on a daily\/weekly\/monthly basis and the cost you\u2019ll need to know:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The rate you pay per kilowatt-hour<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The EVs kWhs per 100 miles rating<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Now, let\u2019s break it down with an example. Let\u2019s assume that you pay $0.12 per kilowatt-hour. Your electric car requires 30 kWhs to go 100 miles on a fully charged battery. That would mean it costs $3.60 to charge a depleted battery, which works out to be $0.036 per mile or roughly 1\/3 kilowatt-hour per mile (3.3 miles per kWh). <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
But that\u2019s not the end of the calculation. Now that you know the miles per kilowatt-hour you can determine how much electricity will be used in a month. That depends on how much you drive. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n