Charging performance (money/time) ICe vs Electricity

sd.fantini said:

Hello people, my name si Simone and i'm the owener of a brand new Mazda CX 60, from Milano, Italy.
i'm writing here because the forum is bigger then italian one, and you are awesome
i have learned so many little things here thanks to all of you.

i have a question and maybe you all have statistics data that can help me:
since we can charge the battery via electricity (columns, home, etc..) and also via IC (the small buttons near the mi-drive) what is the difference between the two methods in terms on money, fuel consumption, stress on the ICe, etc ?

thank you

Click to expand...

Hi Simone,

A PHEV car is designed to charge the battery using electricity (wallbox).

If you charge it via ICE it will be more expensive, since you are using more fuel to generate electricity to charge the battery. The average fuel consumption rises considerably in this case. This option only makes sense if you are going on a long trip and need to charge the battery to enter a limited emission zone (ECO, ZERO).

I've a night tariff for electric vehicles and I pay €0.06 (0.053GBP) per kWh (taxes included). I'm charging an average of 15kWh. 15x€0.06=€0.9 (0.8GBP). And I manage to do 50 km (31 mi). So, with €1 it's 50km (0.9GBP / 31mi).
In Spain, nowadays, 1 liter of gasoline costs €1.60. With an average ICE consumption of 7.5L/100km you will need 3.75L of gasoline to travel 50km (3.75x1.60€=6€). So, with €6 it's 50km (5.3GBP / 31mi).

This obviously makes sense when you're on short trips (40-50 km per day / 25-31 mi per day). That's my case.

Hope this will help you.

Best regards.

The PHEV works best if your daily journeys do not exceed 50 miles, hence most driving is in EV mode, and you can recharge overnight at home. I rarely use any petrol and typically exceed 88MPG. My aggregate fuel cost is lower than my previous Mercedes E350D, but much depends on electricity tariff and that is incomparable between the UK and continental Europe. My decision to buy a PHEV had more to do with emissions reduction than cost saving, but I inevitably do seek the best PHEV fuel solutions.

It is crazy, but I can charge my car in my local Tesco‘s car park for £0.28 p/kW, yet I pay £0.34 p/kW at home. But with a mere 17.8 kW EV battery, the actual cost difference there is trivial. That anomaly should correct in July when UK domestic tariffs are forecast to reduce. But other public chargers can be an extortionate £0.70 p/kW. Longer distance UK journeys where you don’t have access to low cost charging can be a lottery As regards infrastructure.

I agree with UKPhil, never use the Recharge button unless you must preserve EV battery for a zero emissions zone later in your journey, or some other need to keep some charge, such as leaving the car at an airport and your only alternative available option is a boost from a £0.70 p/kW public charger. The recharge button inevitable uses more petrol than if not in use, but might have potential value if your only option is a stop at one of the higher cost public chargers.

One frustration with PHEVs that I didn’t appreciated before purchase is that whilst a Type Two connector is the “European standard”, if you want fast on the road charging you need one of the alternatives. Peterborough Services on the A1 has zero Type Two chargers. However, two of my local pubs have installed 7kW Type Two chargers, but at £0.70 p/kW rates. It seems that there are lots of folk wanting to jump on the charger bandwagon and rip us off!