How much are you saving from your Model S Charging Costs vs Gas for your Car?

I went to the S from a 60MPG average Prius. At initial gas prices I was saving >$100/mo. at current prices I wouldn't be saving quite as much. And that's taking into account that I drive the S quite a bit more than I did the Prius. These numbers will obviously vary by type of gas vehicle, which gas prices and the electricty price.

I have had my Model S for a hair over 2.5 years and have just under 60,000 miles on it. It replaced an '09 Cadillac CTS. I track my energy use and costs religiously and have a separate sub-meter on my car's charging circuit. In this time, I have paid an extra $2,044.71 on my electricity bill. I've used more electricity than that because I have used free Level 2 stations and Superchargers, but the $2k is what I'm actually out-of-pocket on. Over the same distance, I would have had to spend $12,647.00 on gasoline for the Caddy. I have also saved on other ICE-related maintenance like oil changes. So I am seeing about a $350 / month savings in "fuel" costs alone.

I've had my Model S for almost 4 months now. About 9,500 miles so far.

I'd say (conservatively, and assuming charging at home when I get to/from the trips) that about 35% of that was supercharged on roadtrips, so that means I paid for 6,175 miles. I average 309Wh/mi, so that's 1908kWh. Assuming charging losses of 10%, let's make that 2,120kwH @ 11c/kwh = $233

For the gas car my city MPG (daily commute) was about 20, and my wife's SUV highway MPG (road trips) was around 20. So 9,500 miles @ 20mph assuming $2.25 for gas (about average here now): $1,070

So I saved $837 so far, or about $210/month.

I usually figure on 20-25 cents on the dollar, in other words for every dollar spent on making an ICE vehicle go it costs me about 20+ cents to make my tesla go.

I appreciate these well documented real-world examples. I didn't buy the car for gas cost savings, but I'm asked about it all the time, so it's really useful to know.

Funny thing, last month was my first full month with the car so I was curious to compare energy use over September of last year. I'm shocked to find that my usage this year was significantly lower. Obviously this isn't because of the MS, but it does alleviate any lurking concern I might have had about actual cost to operate. And what I learned from it is that many things we do on a daily basis (leaving our computers running when not in use, operating that old barely-utilized freezer in the garage) etc., cost us far more than this car costs to charge. The few changes that our family has made over last year have not just mitigated the cost to operate the car, but the savings have far exceeded what it costs to charge it.

For fuel, mine has saved me $5000 over my previous car. For maintenance, probably about $2000.

I've driven my TRD Supercharged 2010 Toyota Tundra once and been taking the wife's 2012 Infiniti QX56 since we've gotten our MS two weeks ago and we were spending over $100/week on gas. I only put in $35 of fuel in the ICE vehicles last week. We've put 1250KM on the MS already and that would have cost us about $250 in fuel for the Tundra/QX. Charging at home costs us about $25 so far for 2 weeks at average of $0.10/kWh. Reserved a MX, so we can't wait to trade in the QX56 for it next year. Was spending anywhere between $400-500/month on fuel, so when we have a MX and MS we'll be saving approximately $4000/year from fueling up...will still keep the Tundra for hauling stuff and towing my utility trailer.

Kind of less than realistic to compare the cost of fueling a MS with an Accord since there not even in the same class of vehicle.
It is when you are replacing a vehicle of the same class as the MS or interested in reducing your carbon foot print that the MS really shines!!

I just replaced my BMW 1998, 740i Sport - Premium Sound, Rear Shades, Self Leveling Sport Suspension and Big Brakes, Memory Seats/Mirrors/Steering Column and weighing in at 4200 lbs.
On a road trip it would get 20 MPG at 85-90 MPH. Fabulous road vehicle with load of rear trunk space.
The daily commute mileage would yield 15-16 MPG.
Northern California gas is $3.50 a gal. for 92 octane down from over $4 last year.

The monthly cost to fuel the 740 was 2 tanks, which is about 40 gal. or $150 a month plus the occasional weekend road trip at $200-300; easy $3000 a year.

The MS I charge at home for FREE and Supercharger for the road trips is pretty sweet. With a 7.5kW-AC PV system on the roof I haven't paid for electricity at my home for 3 years.
The actual long term (25 year cost) of electricity which is the cost of the PV system installation is $0.04 kWh so you could say the cost for the daily charge is $.50 but then since I added the MS the cost for the monthly electric bill is unchanged and is still only the cost of PV system installation.

Obviously for my situation ($150/0) = no comparison for the fueling cost and the MS also has better acceleration than the 740i, V8-4.4L, German Saloon.
The upside is the BEV provides options unavailable with an ICE or Hybrid irrespective of the class of vehicle and that is the win...

Here's to hoping everyone invest in solar PV systems, clean energy, the Tesla brand continues to develops better EV's and the battery technology blossoms.

My wife drives a great deal. We save $200 or so per month over our previous fuel costs and are spending around $60/month for electricity.

I have a 2014 Model S 85KW (December) 23,000 miles including a 6,000 mile Supercharger trip to midwest. I sold 2 cars when we got the S - 2004 Jaguar XJ8 - used for touring, dinner out etc Premium Gas (avg 24MPG) and a 2007 Toyota Yaris for commutting to work 60 mile round trip (35MPG) Regular gas.
Last year I spent on average $160/month for gas for these 2 cars. Since they are gone my electric bill went up $15/month. Nice savings beyond the maintenance costs of the other 2 cars.

I'm saving about $800/year at $3/gallon and about $400/year at $2/gallon. My last car was a 48 MPG Prius. Gasoline would have to fall to around $1/gallon before I stop saving money versus ICE.

My S and Roadster replaced a Prius and a Porsche Cayman. I used to spend about $300/month on gas. Charging my Teslas at home added about $60/month to my electrical bill.
I estimate about 90% of my EV driving is powered by home charging. The other 10% is powered by Tesla's Superchargers

I used to drive about 5.000 km per month with my Lexus. At 9.5 l/100 km and average price per liter for premium of 1.50 € that is (5,000 / 100 * 9.5 *1.5=) 712.50 € per month.

The Model S gets driven about 8.000 km per month. 225 Wh/km. Electricity is abour 0.26 € per kWh. So electricity cost is about (8,000 * .225 * 0.26 =) 468.00 € per month.

Actually though, I estimate that I am charging:

50 % from the superchargers
30 % from my own PV system
20 % from the grid

For SC use I paid ca. 2.000 €, distribute that over 8 years or 96 months gives you 20.83 €.
The opportunity cost of the PV system kWh is 0.13 €. This is what I would get from the grid if I sold it to the grid. (8,000 * 0.3 * .225 * 0.13 =) 70.20 €
The cost of the electrons from the grid 93.60 €.

Total: 184 € per month.
Saving about 284 per month.

Unfair comparison you say, cause I drive more? No, I drive more because of the S. If I had an ICE I would probably drive less

JanetM said:

I didn't buy the car for gas cost savings, but I'm asked about it all the time, so it's really useful to know.

Click to expand...

Fuel cost savings was way and by far my number one reason. Based on a fuel cost equivalence, an ICE would have to get around 130 MPG to match the cost of my Model S on electricity. And that's assuming I pay for all of the electricity (i.e. no free Level 2 or Superchargers). So it's actually higher than 130 MPG equivalent with the amount of away-from-home charging I do.

Perhaps this gets a little too scientific for folks but I was turned on to a blog site called waitbutwhy.com. The writer recently did an expose on Elon Musk ("why Elon Musk is the raddest guy alive" I think was the title) where he links a government site that helps vehicle owners see the "real" MPG of an electric vehicle based upon the carbon emissions from power plants in your area. In the states that heavily rely on coal, your equivalent MPG is much less than if your area sources power from other sources (even natural gas). They're very long reads, but quite interesting...

The graph I mentioned above is in part 2 of the story about Musk, almost at the bottom of the story: How Tesla Will Change The World - Wait But Why

I'm coming from a very thirsty heavily modified M5 with a 10 cylinder engine and 8,500rpm redline. I got barely 11mpg around town when being careful, and maybe 8mpg when driving "enthusiastically". On the highway, I'd be lucky to get 18mpg with the cruise control on.

Don't know exactly how much "fuel" money I'm saving with my P85D, but I'd estimate it at just about all of it.

Perhaps off-topic, but with an 18 gallon tank, the most I dare drive between fillups on the interstate was about 300 miles. More typically, I'd stop every 250 or so. Not too much more than when driving the P85D. I'll also mention that the aggressive suspension settings meant I was going through tires at a faster than "normal" rate. The inner rears would wear much quicker than the outer edges, and the combination of camber and toe on the fronts wore the fronts faster than the rears.

Well, up here in Alberta Canada, the cost for premium gas (because it's only fair to compare the Model S to a performance gas car) is about $1.30/litre. Usual fuel spend per year is $2500 on the kind of driving I do. So far, paying $0.08 per kWh for electricity and have used about $195 of electricity since end of April when I got my Tesla. Extrapolating that out, I will spend about $600/year at most, so that would mean a savings of $1900/year! Not to shabby for a car that can kick any Audi A7, Merc AMG, or BMW 7 series butt.

Here are the calcs for my car in the Bay Area:

• Model S Charging at 23 miles per hour rate at home = 240V x 32A =7.7Kwh x $0.13 $/Kwh = about $1.00 to charge 23 miles.
• ICE car (Porsche) = I get about 20-25 miles per gallon with the car and current premium gas in CA is $3.25 per gallon (23 mpg)
• Therefore, I save 70% on fuel costs by driving my Model S. (Does not include the savings from free charging at a Supercharger on trips)