MPG-e comparison for January

Just for fun I did some math

January
Leaf- 963 miles - $21.85 - $.0227/mile - 92.63 mpg-e
TDI - 922 miles - $51.42 - $.0558/mile - 46.49 mpg
van - 580 miles - $57.80 - $.0997/mile - 20.65 mpg

The van we primarily use to go to swim meets where all 6 of us go, we don't fit in the TDI or leaf and are usually 120 miles away. The TDI is our second car when we need to run two places at once and this month had single swim meet run of 240 miles when only 2 kids swam one day.

So even with fuel cost way down it is still less than half as expensive to drive the leaf. We also have solar PV that isn't taken in to account, I just based the Leaf on off peak usage rates of .0631 / KWH

Snow tires and heat pull down the Leaf's numbers

I find MPG-e to be largely meaningless as it varies dramatically from location to location based on the local electric rates. Therefore, it is almost impossible to compare numbers...

I based the MPG-e strictly on the 33.7 kWh = 1 gallon of gas. This is how far the Leaf can travel on 33.7 kWh, no cost involved with that comparison, just energy consumed. I also meter the power before the evse as well. So that is wall kWh, not reported from the car, as the car reports a higher number.

But since it does not take in to account actual fuel cost, it is mostly meaningless.. What truly matters to most people is what their fuel cost is for a given distance... MPG is a good estimate because gas prices are relatively the same across the country, within reason... Electric rates, however, can vary by a factor of four...

BrockWI said:

I based the MPG-e strictly on the 33.7 kWh = 1 gallon of gas. This is how far the Leaf can travel on 33.7 kWh, no cost involved with that comparison, just energy consumed. I also meter the power before the evse as well. So that is wall kWh, not reported from the car, as the car reports a higher number.

Click to expand...

Yes thats true, there isn't a good way to compare cost's across the country. The above is just my snapshot.