34.8.
Operation Costs of the Electric Vehicle
To make a fair comparison of the costs of operating an electric vehicle and a gasoline-driven vehicle, consideration must be given to the fact that the electric vehicle is not yet as sophisticated as it should be. Further it is expected that:
(t) Specific energy consumption (energy per km) will drop from today’s 250 Wh/km to 140 Wh/km.
(ii) The weight of battery may be less than 30% of the total weight of the vehicle.
Operating cost of the electric vehicle is about 25 to 35% of the equivalent internal combustion vehicle. For any automobile the total operating cost is related as,
CT = CU + CRxD
where CT is total operating cost,
CU is up keeping cost,
CR is running cost,
and D is distance travelled in km.
Therefore, cost per km running, CK= CTID = (CU/D) + CR.
34.8.1.
UP keeping Cost
The up keeping cost is a fixed amount and it depends on the following:
(a) Road taxes CRT).
(b) Insurance premium (IP).
(c) Returns on investment (RI).
(d) Depreciation value (DV).
(e) Garage rent (GR).
(f) Servicing charges (SC).
(g) Incidental amount (IA).
Therefore, the total up keeping cost, CU = RT + IP + RI + DV + GR + SC + IA. Road Taxes. The annual road taxes on electric vehicle may not be very different from those paid for the internal combustion vehicles.
Insurance Premium. The insurance premium on the electric vehicles may be higher than the insurance premium for a similar pay load capacity internal combustion vehicle.
Returns on Investment.
Returns on investment are different for both vehicles and is decided for the electric vehicle mainly by:
(i) The initial cost of the vehicle (discussed under section 34.7), and
(ii) The initial cost of setting up the charging facilities to charge the batteries. This will be normally less than 5% of the initial investment on the electric vehicles. The infrastructure required to charge the batteries of the electric vehicle is to a large extent already available even in small towns and big villages. Hence, there is no necessity of any major expenditure on setting up of charging facilities for the electric vehicles using lead-acid battery.
Rather, if necessary, the charging facilities can be designed to be totally automatic with a simple plug-in system to minimize the requirement of an attendant.
Depreciation Value. Value of depreciation depends on the initial investment and the useful life of the vehicle. In electric vehicles though the initial investment is higher, the useful life of the vehicle is much higher than that of the convention internal combustion vehicle for the same pay load capacity. The lower life of the internal combustion vehicle is because of a very high level of vibration due to the reciprocating engine, especially in diesel engine powered vehicles. Hence, the depreciation on electric vehicle will not be more than on internal combustion vehicles, if the cost of the electric vehicle is not more than the internal combustion vehicle, and if cost of the electric vehicle is not greater than the ratio in which its life exceeds that of the IC vehicles.
In addition to the vehicle depreciation, the depreciation cost for the propulsion batteries is to be included in case of electric vehicles.
Garage Rent, Servicing Charges, and the Incidental Amount.
These three parameters remain same for both types of vehicles.
34.8.2.
Running Cost
The running cost is a variable and is independent of the distance travelled for calculating the cost per km. It depends on the following costs:
(a) Fuel cost (FC).
(b) Lubricant cost (LC).
(c) Repair cost (RC).
(d) Tyres replacement cost (TC).
(e) Depreciation cost on replaceable parts (DC). Therefore, total running cost, CR = FC + LC + RC + TC + DC.
Fuel Cost. Fuel cost contributes to a major extent to the running costs of any vehicle, thus comparison of fuel cost for both the vehicle provides a very good comparison on running cost.
(i) Electric Vehicle Fuel Cost. The fuel cost is the cost of electric energy required to charge the batteries from discharged condition. If, E is energy required to charge the batteries in kWh and R is the energy per charge in km, then, energy per km = EIR.
(ii) Internal Combustion Vehicle Fuel Cost. The fuel cost in this case is the cost of fossil fuel such as diesel, petrol etc., used during operations. If, D is the distance travelled per litre of fuel, then I/D gives the litres/km of running of the vehicle.
Running cost in euros for both the cases can be obtained by multiplying the cost per kWh of electricity or cost per litre of fuel accordingly. It is seen that fuel cost of the electric vehicle is about 20 to 30% of the fuel cost of the internal combustion vehicle. However, the saving is more with respect to petrol than diesel.
Lubricant Cost. Lubricant is constantly required in the reciprocating engine. The normal motors used in electric vehicle are self lubricating and sealed. Therefore, lubricating costs are practically nil for electric vehicles.
Repair Cost. Among the moving parts, the reciprocating parts need more repairs than non-reciprocating parts. In electric vehicles reciprocating parts are relatively fewer and hence the repair costs are also considerably less. The repair of body and chassis is less in electric vehicles as they are subjected to practically no vibration as compared to internal combustion vehicles.
Tyres Replacement Cost. This is same for both types of vehicles.
Depreciation of Replaceable Parts. The replacement of parts being less in electrical vehicle the depreciation cost is also relatively less.
