The Economics of Electric Cars - Part One - Commuting

Introduction

This is the first part in a series about the costs of transport, as well as the benefits of owning an electric car. This first post will not deal with lifetime costs, clearly there are far larger costs than are mentioned here. Instead we will assume that those costs are sunk at the time you are deciding how you will make your journey.

In this post we will look at three example commute journeys in Ireland, examine the options available and the time and financial costs associated with each option. I encourage you to do the same with the details of your own circumstances.

In Part Two I deal with the miscellaneous kinds of travel which justify owning a car in the first place. In Part Three I will deal with lifetime costs, the implications of electric car ownership and an extreme example.

Example 1: My current 20km City Centre Commute

City centre means parking is generally the highest cost when commuting to work, making public transport much more attractive than any alternative. Unless you have a privileged parking situation, fuel savings are not enough for electric cars to make much difference. Car pooling can change the math here though. With 3 people any car is cheaper than public transport. A hybrid or EV saves money vs. public transport with only 2 people car pooling.

Mode	Travel Time	Fuel/Tickets	Parking	Total
Train + walking [1]	65 minutes	€3 each way	-	€6
Bus + walking [2]	75 minutes	€2.60 each way	-	€5.20
ICE (petrol) car [3]	60 minutes	€2.41 each way	€9	€13.82
Hybrid car [4]	60 minutes	€1.45 each way	€9	€11.89
Plugin Electric [5]	60 minutes	€0.32 each way	€9	€9.64
Taxi [6]	60 minute	€44.40 each way	-	€88.80

Example 2: My upcoming 41km commute

Non-city centre commutes make public transport less competitive. Having to take two buses or trains always increases the time, and may increase the price. With parking less of a factor, this commute is where an electric vehicle really shines. The cost here is so cheap that it beats public transport both on time and money, saving a whopping €3.20 per workday vs. the train. With 240 workdays that’s €768 saved each year on commuting, and 40 hours saved as well. Car pooling might be less likely if your work is outside the city centre though.

Mode	Travel Time	Fuel/Tickets	Parking	Total
Train (with connection) [1]	80 minutes	€3 each way	-	€6
Bus (with connection) [2]	85 minutes	€6.87	-	€6.87
ICE car [3]	70 minutes	€4.94 each way	€1.50	€11.38
Hybrid car [4]	70 minutes	€2.96 each way	€1.50	€7.43
Plugin Electric [5]	70 minutes	€0.65 each way	€1.50	€2.80
Taxi: [6]	70 minutes	€50 each way	-	€100 total

Example 3: Long Distance Commute 60km (Navan to Dublin)

Not as many people will have to commute this far, but it’s a large enough number that it caused the counties bordering Dublin to have the largest average commute time. These people will have the greatest benefit by commuting with an electric vehicle as long as the car has the range. This commute makes the most use of motorways, which were barely used in two previous examples. Public transport is indirect on this route, and becomes the most expensive option (remembering that we are not factoring lifetime vehicle costs). With a commute like this, an electric car will save an enormous amount of money each journey vs any alternative.

Mode	Travel Time	Fuel/Tickets	Parking	Total
Public transport	120 minutes	€18 Return Bus [2] + €1.73 each way [1]	-	€21.44
ICE car [3]	95 minutes	€7.23 each way	€1.50	€15.96
Hybrid car [4]	95 minutes	€4.34 each way	€1.50	€10.18
Plugin Electric [5]	95 minutes	€0.95 each way	€1.50	€3.40

Conclusion

The best option for transport really depends on your circumstance. Even when you own a car, public transport is often your most economical choice for travelling into work. Depending on your circumstances though, an electric car may save you an enormous amount of money each journey. We have not gone into lifetime costs yet, but I hope that this post shows you the beginnings of why you might consider an electric vehicle as an economical choice of transport. I also hope it shows that while there are economic advantages to hybrid cars, you get a far greater fuel cost advantage from a fully electric vehicle.

Methods and Assumptions

Average of 20 work days per month, after weekends and holidays factored in, for pricing monthly/quarterly ticket options.
Monthly and quarterly parking tickets used where available.
Travel times from practice, estimates otherwise.

[1] Using a Leap Card. Monthly/annual tickets are unlikely to be cheaper in practice, but a full annual ticket with your employer could be
[2] Leap card fares or monthly rambler ticket where cheaper
[3] There’s an enormous range of cars, and fuel economy varies greatly. For this I chose the Toyota Corolla, as it is the most popular car in the world with an excellent reputation for fuel economy. Price of petrol taken as average unleaded for today, 1.339 €/L from https://www.mylpg.eu/stations/ireland/prices. This cost will vary according to the current price of petrol. These cars are in practice more efficient on the motorway, less in city driving.
[4] Based on 2017 Toyota Prius, the most popular hybrid and the most popular by far of any car with an electric drive train. Petrol costs calculated using same method as ICE car. Older hybrids are not as efficient, age of engine may be a factor in this. Hybrids are close to optimum efficiency in both motorway and city driving.
[5] Based on Nissan Leaf, the highest selling plugin electric car. Price based upon charging at night with an ESB NightSaver meter €0.0906 per kWhr. These prices do not fluctuate frequently as petrol prices do. EV’s are more efficient in city driving, less efficient on motorways.
[6] Calculated with a taxi fare calculator, made some manual adjustments to assume heavy traffic