When will electric cars be better than gasoline ones?
I was asked this question on Quora a few days ago and thought it was a great question for a Medium Blog. So below is my answer:
I am well positioned to answer this given that at this moment in time, in my household we have a BMW 5 Series Diesel (3 years old), Tesla Model S (brand new) and a Suzuki Swift Petrol (8 years old).
The Tesla is a recent purchase and the BMW due to be returned in a weeks time. The Suzuki Swift is my wife’s vehicles and until recently used quite sparingly. So we have quite a spread of vehicle here. Small vs Large. Petrol vs Diesel. Electric vs ICE. Luxury vs Compact etc
The Suzuki is good. The wife loves it. When offered the BMW she turned it down. She doesn’t even want to drive the Tesla. Its suits her needs perfectly which is basically short journeys and small motorway miles. Now if she were to drive to Manchester and back (~75 mile round trip) it’d cost her her a decent sum of around £40. The most concerning is her car would be running at 70% of its capacity
Naturally, the BMW is a luxury executive saloon only really beaten by the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley IMHO. The BMW will run around 600 miles on a full tank of fuel. Has five seats and plenty, but sometimes limited boot space compared to others in its category. It is super comfortable, has all possible luxuries to boot and surprisingly given its weight and size it is incredible on speed, acceleration and mpg. A similar trip to Manchester would cost ~£10 in the BMW and the car at 40–50% of capacity
Now the Tesla and on to answering the question. This vehicle is remarkable. I thought the BMW was comfortable but this is a cut above. It is smooth. It is light to drive. Even though it is bigger than the BMW it is by now way cumbersome. It is agile. It is completely flexible. Almost every setting can be changed on the car. It has the performance of the very top BMW. The same trip to Manchester would cost ~£3 and as for the car, it seems like no trouble at all. The only give is that the Tesla starts at 180 miles of range, something even a fully fuelled Suzuki Swift would beat
NOW THE POINT…
it is purely context dependent as to when Electric Cars will be better than Gasoline.
MY VIEW: I have owned the Tesla a week and this point has already arrived for me. I will NEVER go back to ICE. But I rarely drive longer than range of the car. HOWEVER, even if I did, the supercharge network is at my beck and call. I look at the Tesla as both a luxury and a common sense purchase. It’s saving me over £75 a month in fuel. Plus car tax savings. Throw in the added luxury and the additional payment is minor. Couple in the fact that I’d of upgraded to a 7 Series of X6 and it becomes minimal
MY WIFES VIEW: She loves her Suzuki Swift. She would never trade it in if it would last her forever. It is such a great car FOR HER. I can’t stand it. It’s small. Noisy. Guzzles fuel. Uncomfortable. But, we have vastly different use-cases. I drive for long periods of time. She doesn’t. So how can she warrant spending upwards of £30,000 on an Electric Vehicle?
ICE OWNERS VIEW: I was one of these… range anxiety a primary focus. So much so I nearly came close to buying a Hybrid 7 Series. Range Anxiety is an insecurity. Afterall, you have to fill you car with fuel still. As a Diesel owner. I have set off from London before with a tank suggesting 150 miles left on a 175 mile journey. What did I do… I stopped off for a coffee and filled the car up. So just how much does this differ with the Tesla? THE REALITY: IT DOESN’T!! With a supercharger, once you have used the toilet, ordered your coffee and returned to your car chances are the charge wouldn’t be far off complete
In Summary: It is purely context dependent. But for someone who does a fair amount of miles, likes a luxury vehicle and doesn’t mind spending for it, an Electric Vehicle is miles ahead of its ICE counterpart
