How much is your recharge running on your home elec. bill?

[volvoman]

I have just asked my company if they will supply a plug in if I have a EV. I am trying to see how much it will run me at home.   My bill right now is $42  my gas bill is in the $60 It goes up in the winter.  Anyways back to my question.  If I can plug in at work that would make the conversion more possible.  How much has your elec. bill been running a month with recharging everyday?
Thanks for any info.  Oh and right now I am not to tech on this stuff yet so keep it basic.
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[leitmotif]

Worst case is ampere hour x total battery voltage (at charge) x about another 30% (assuming wet lead acid).
Best (cheapest) way is to measure with Kw Hr meter that is connected on supply line to charger. 
You can use the meter on the house
PROVIDED --
you KNOW nothing else is running ie turn off all but the breaker feeding the charger.

Expensive is to have someone like me bring in a data logger hook it in (either on AC side of charger or on DC side) and record power usage.

Dan Bentler

[volvoman]

 Is it always different with every set up, 15 batteris compared to 20 batteries?  I would think that the charger would come into play somewhere. 
Chris

[Eletruk]

I purchased and installed a seperate watthour meterjust so I could track my electricity usage just for my truck. So I keep a log of miles driven and KWh used. What surprised me the most is the HUGE variation from day to day. I have a high of about 9 miles/KWh and a low of 1,6. But in the overall average it comes out to about 2.6 miles per KWh, which is pretty much in line with the Ford specs - 337 WH/miles versus my 384 for average driving cycle.
So I have had my watthour meter installed for about a year now and it just turned over 1000, so at 9 cents/KWh my "fuel" bill has been $90, for the year. Or $7.50 a month.

[volvoman]

So is this typ 5 days a week driving or just weekend around town stuff?   I drive 42 round trip a day , moslty freeway and few small hills.

[leitmotif]

Is it always different with every set up, 15 batteris compared to 20 batteries?  I would think that the charger would come into play somewhere. 

Dont think in terms of battery think in terms of cells.  A bigger battery is like a bigger line of credit.  You can "borrow" more amps from battery but like the line of credit you gotta pay it back.  The more borrowed the bigger the interest and for the battery you also have an interest (so to speak) of about 30% that you dont get back - at least that is what I found charging submarine battery.

The charger is nothing but a converter (which is the technical term) more power out = more power in plus a little loss - maybe around 5%.

The variation Electruc mentioned between recharges as measured by the meter divided by miles driven is not a result of the battery or charger BUT in the driving habits, route, traffic pattern etc.  If he can do 40 miles at a steady 30 mph on flat ground his power per mile value will be real high.  If he is stuck in stop n go then it will be real low.  If he climbed Queen Anne that day real low.

Dan Bentler

[volvoman]

When I first tried to figure out if this was possible to do a swap. The range of difference for gas compared to the conversion was a lot.  I don't know if I was looking at it the right way. I really want to do a swap but I have to justify the means.   I am spending $200 on gas every month,  and I need a bit more to convince the boss to do one.     Is there a web page of cost comparing?

[rjf]

I am spending $200 on gas every month,..

How about this, in the most general terms, an Electric Vehicle is 2 two 4 times as efficient as an equivalent gas vehicle.  That is to say than and Electric S-10 uses 1/2 to 1/4 the energy that a gas S-10 does, the same would apply to a Geo or an SUV...  With this rule of thumb we can take your $200/month for gas at $4/gal to reach 50 gallons of gas?  Each gallon is equivalent to 33.6kWh or electricity, to the 50 gallons is about 1680kWh.  Multiply that by your electric rate, mine is $0.06/kWh which comes to about $100.  But an EV would use 1/2 to 1/4 the energy, so I would guesstimate that your $200 gas bill might fall between $50 and $25 per month with an electric vehicle similar to the gas vehicle you drive currently.

[volvoman]

Starting to make sense of it now.  My wife says get rid of the race car and I can do a ev.  Now just have to figure out a way to get it done by next year so I can have some $$..      Thanks for the input, If anyone has anymore data please post.

[Jim]

I have a 2007 Zenn EV. It is a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle, which means it is set up to run at 25 mph or less. I reprogrammed the controller and have been able to drive as fast as 37 mph - which has caused the motor to overheat (but that's another story).

This vehicle has a 5 hp DC motor and the vehicle weighs about 1500 pounds. When I first got it, I connected the Zenn battery charger to a Kill-A-Watt meter whenever the batteries needed recharging. The Kill-A-Watt meter made it possible to get an accurate idea of how much the battery pack charging adds to my electric bill. Well, as I found out, the cost has been no more than $10 to $15 per month - and that is while driving the vehicle at least 400 miles.

So I love my Zenn !! It's a GREEN machine that does not contaminate our planet, and the operating costs are far less than any other vehicle I have ever owned.

[volvoman]

Thats pretty good.  Can you change motors out?  I have some freeway and some hills, wish I only needed 4 0r 5 miles.

[Jim]

Even if I did install a bigger motor, I wouldn't drive the Zenn on freeways. It's really not safe for highway speeds. In my area I drive city streets at 30 to 35 mph, and there are no hills. From what I've been reading, there should be some highway capable EVs coming out in a couple of years. Chevrolet and perhaps Toyota will be producing plug-in hybrids that will run 30 to 40 miles on electric only.

Thats pretty good.  Can you change motors out?  I have some freeway and some hills, wish I only needed 4 0r 5 miles.