What is the mpg equivalent of an all electric car?

Question

In other words, how many miles can an all electric car travel if you charge it using the same amount of electricity (in $) as it cost to buy a gallon of gas? With cost of electricity and cost of gas being somewhere close to the national average.

For example, if you charge your electric motor with about $3.75 worth of electicity from your house, and on that charge you drove about 50 miles, the mpg equivalent, at least as far as price, would be about 50 mpg.

This is something I just made up and thought about in my head. I really dont expect anyone to have the time or the resources to test this. Has anyone heard or seen the results of a similar study?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Electric cars cost 2-3 cents per mile to recharge.

If gas costs $4/gallon, you need to get 160 mpg to match that price.

Answer 2

Battery powered cars currently will travel between 2 and 4 miles per KWH of battery capacity. Assuming you can buy electricity at a marginal rate (the next KWH after your base charges are satisfied) of about 10 cents per KWH, your $3.75 for 1 gallon of gasoline would buy about 37.5 KWH of electricity which would power an electric car for 75 to 150 miles depending on its weight and overall efficiency.

Specifically the 2003 Toyota RAV4 EV has a 27.4 KWH battery and a driving range of 80 to 120 miles depending on driving style, terraine, etc. The EPA's fuel economy guide lists its performance as 125 mpg equivalent for city driving and 100 mpg equivalent on the highway. If you were in an area that offers off-peak pricing of electricity at 2/3 rds of the prime time cost, your equivalent mpg could be 50% higher.

The RAV4 EV takes about 5 hours to recharge, so on a long trip you might drive for 1 and a half or 2 hours and then spend 5 hours recharging (if you could find a suitable 240 volt outlet) before you could continue on your trip. Something of a bummer, but if you were commuting for less than 80 miles round trip, you could recharge at home overnight.