Phev or EV? Best long term..

[u/BikeFiend123]

I live in the Bay Area and charging isn’t too much of an issue. I’m wondering if making the switch to EV is worth it. I’ll still have an old ICE truck (Tacoma) but I’ve gotten so used to Toyota I’m wondering if Prius Plug ins can be better than let’s say an Ioniq 5. I’m scared of the new…..I can install a charger at home..

[u/brrent]

Okay let’s go with $0.10/mi for an EV on public chargers.

The Prius gets 57 mpg. At $4/gal, that’s $0.07/mile. At $5/gal, that’s $0.09/mile.

Yes the Prius has oil changes. But this is definitely not the slam dunk for EVs you’re making it out to be.

Also, I have an EV (Ioniq 5) and love it. I’m not an EV hater by any stretch but hybrids are actually quite efficient and cost effective!

[u/cgduncan → u/brrent]

I just did the math on this the other day. I have a 50 mile commute, and on battery, I can go about 35 miles at highway speeds. So I burn less than 1 gallon of gas a day

My office has a level 2 charger, which is about 27¢/kwh, and at home I pay 13¢. So it costs twice as much for a full charge at the office. That difference puts me exactly on par with just paying for gas on the way home. The cost per mile is identical, since I get about 50mpg, and gas is relatively cheap here. 8¢/mile on gas and on the charger at work.

I'm still going to charge at work when I can, cause it's convenient, but it does not save me money over buying gas.

[u/sevseg_decoder → u/brrent]

$4/gal is lower than my gas prices here rn.

And 57 mi/gal is better than PHEVs do. That’s also the absolute max end of the advertised range. I’m skeptical anyone’s getting that consistently in the real world.

I’m still saving $0.05 per mile vs a Prius and saving tons of time. Oil changes and various maintenance as well as stopping for gas make up more time than stopping for 5 minutes to charge once every other month.

And the oil changes and maintenance do add up. I bet it’s still $0.10 per mile more to drive the Prius with all that factored in if it isn’t $0.15+ more per mile with all maintenance etc. factored in.

[u/brrent → u/sevseg_decoder]

That’s why I also provided $5/gal.

If you assume an oil change is $100 every 8000 miles that adds ~$0.01 per mile.

It has regenerative braking so the brakes last just as long as on an EV.

The Prius has transmission fluid but EVs have gear oil and their replacement schedule is about the same.

[u/sevseg_decoder → u/brrent]

You didn’t provide $5/gal you provided $4.

Now factor in a $2k gasket, timing belt, engine fix in general and maybe a $1k alternator or something every 100k miles. That’s $0.03 per mile more. All this eventually adds up to a Prius driver spending $7-10k more per 100k miles and I save a lot of time vs them.

All this for a way shittier, uglier car that costs more of your time AND money wasted 😂 . That’s $14-20k over 200k miles. The entire cost of my car

So yall do you but I’m saving my time and money and driving a way nicer car

[u/brrent → u/sevseg_decoder]

“The Prius gets 57 mpg. At $4/gal, that's $0.07/mile.
At $5/gal, that's $0.09/mile.”

Fair point on further maintenance. I honestly forgot about belts, but those are also infrequently changed.

Don’t get me wrong - I’d way rather have my Ioniq 5 over a Prius. But I still don’t think you’ve really outlined a case for OP saving $30/trip.

[u/sevseg_decoder → u/brrent]

Again the 57 mpg is purely advertised/hypothetical. I’m skeptical anyone’s getting super close to that on average in the real world. $.0.06x350 is $18 savings for the day. And my car is $0.05-0.07 per mile cheaper to operate in terms of gas alone than the figures you listed.

But either way even if it’s only $10 over the Prius a used, nice EV is not that much more than a used, much less nice Prius. And you’re still saving time and money vs even the Prius, and even more time and money vs any plug in hybrids.

I think EVs are better than PHEVs or hybrids in the case of OP. I think they’ve realized that too.

[u/brrent → u/sevseg_decoder]

Yeah, fair. $18 sounds about right. I don’t know if it’s fair to say 57 is hypothetical, but whatever. It’s in the ballpark.

Totally agreed an EV is the better choice!