madbrain
Well-known member
DaveinOlyWA said:ok, so it doesnt work for you and that is too bad. i think that if you really did this you might find your worst case scenario you have laid out above is not the case and you will find that there are many hidden costs to driving a car including your time.
you live in the Bay Area as I did. One thing I found was that time was money, more so than any area I had ever lived (military brat here, i have lived a lot of places). another part of your equation you might want to figure is the time you spend getting gas. You have a Prius, too bad you average 45 mpg which means you get gas 3 times a month. calculate the time you spend doing that. I found that it took me about 12-20 minutes (depending on the wait time at the gas station) to fill up my Prius despite the fact that it was less than 200 yards detour from my commute. problem is; the commute was during rush hour which aggravated the time issue.
I fill up only twice a month actually on average, and the station I go to is actually on my way home, right at the freeway exit, there is no detour. And before anyone asks, that station has good prices. Usually I only spend about 5 minutes for a fillup.
my other choice is hope that i had errands near the gas station (i use Costco exclusively because of the discount they give) when i need gas or make a special trip. the option of getting gas at an alternate station would provide very little in the way of time savings since i live technically in the suburbs but its very rural. (i live 3 blocks from County Fairground on basically an isthmus between two lakes) by the time i get to "civilization" 2 miles away, my gas station options START at 50 cents a gallon higher and UP.
Funny you are concerned about time but fillup at Costco. I don't fillup at Costco because of the time issue - it is usually a 10-15 minute wait before one can start pumping.
just curious; how far is your commute and what type of driving? to average 3 miles per Kwh (per your "adjusted" estimate) means you are driving 70 mph with climate controls blasting. I think you will find that its hard to average above about 4.5 miles per Kwh on the freeway, but its also difficult to get below 3.5 miles/kwh especially when you live in an area that does not get real cold.
Commute is 12-13 miles each way, 75% freeway, off-peak hours, usually I do 70mph there.
I am not a Leaf owner yet, I may yet become one, but if I do it won't be because of numbers alone.
Re: cold, I actually had to put my heater on at home last night for the first time, room was down to 64 and I need it at 69 at least or I get sick.
finally; get with your local FB owners group and discuss your utility rate situation.
By FB do you mean facebook ?
I have a good handle on my utility situation, the only practical solution is to put my solar PV, 12 more are going up on the roof tomorrow in addition to the 28 that went up 2 years ago.
This should allow for charging a Leaf for "free" - if you don't count the $5k solar addition investment (after incentives).