Fuel Costs: Ebike vs EV vs Car

My last article took a general look at the costs of owning an electric bike. In this article I want to dig a little deeper into fuel costs of an Ebike, an EV and a car to demonstrate the significant, tangible savings you can make by replacing short car journeys which account for around 70% of urban traffic journeys. Strap yourself in, let’s do some math.

Assumptions

So to calculate electricity and fuel costs I have had to make some assumptions. For electricity I’ve taken the average cost per KWh (source Ofgem) @ 24.5p. On electric bikes I’ve based my calculations on a 500Wh (0.5KWh) battery with a 75 mile range per charge. For EV’s I’ve assumed an average battery capacity of 72Kwh (source ev-database.org) and a range of 250 miles. For cars I’ve assumed a fuel price of £1.45 per litre, a 60 litre tank and consumption of 35 miles per gallon.

Electric Bikes

The cost to charge a 500Wh battery is 0.5Kwh x 24.5p = 12.25p. Assuming a range of 75 miles that makes the cost per mile 0.0016p. 50 miles per week will cost 8p, 100 miles will cost 16p or £4.25 and £8.49 per year respectively.

5,200 miles will cost you £8.49 in fuel

Further Reading

• 8 Reasons to use an Ebike around town
• The Cost of owning an Electric Bike: A Guide
• Top 5 reasons to buy an Ebike this year

Electric Vehicle

The cost to charge a 72KWh battery is 0.5Kwh x 24.5p = £17.64. Assuming a range of 250 miles that makes the cost per mile 7p. 50 miles per week will cost £3.53, 100 miles will cost £7.06 or £183.46 and £366.91 per year respectively.

5,200 miles will cost you £366.91 in fuel

Car

The cost to fill a 60 litre tank @ £1.45 per litre = £87.00. Assuming fuel consumption of 35mpg, its range will be 462 miles. That makes the cost per mile 19p. 50 miles per week will cost £9.43, 100 miles will cost £18.85 or £490.10 and £980.20 per year respectively.

5,200 miles will cost you £980.20 in fuel

Conclusion

If I said you could have an electric bike for FREE worth just under £3000 you’d probably think I was joking or its a scam. Well the difference in fuel costs alone between an Ebike and a Car are £971.21 annually. Over three years, riding 100 miles a week (10 mile commute each way x 5 days) it would literally pay for itself from the savings you would make by switching. If you account for upfront costs, servicing and maintenance the savings will be greater and you’ll get a free bike sooner.

If you rely on a car for short journeys and you are struggling with the cost of living, the facts are ebike costs will save you a lot of money and help.