Thanks to high electricity prices and low gas prices it now costs less
per mile to run our Prius Plug-In on gasoline than on electricity.
Miles per Gallon: 45
Price per Gallon: $3.00
Cost Per Gasoline Mile: 6.67¢
Miles per KWH: 4
Price per KWH: $0.324 (no joke!)
Cost Per Electric Mile: 8.10¢

I would LOVE to have an electric car, even if it cost more per mile to
drive. Unfortunately, the initial cost of an electric car puts them way
out of my price range.

I realize I am in the minority, but I drive an old 1976 VW Rabbit.

www.watsondiy.com/rabbit.htm

I bought it used for $850 in 1988 and have spent approximately $8000 on
maintenance and repairs since then. I keep a log of my fuel expenses and
have spent $9200 on gas since I have owned the car. I get about 25mpg
now, but it has been as low as 19mpg when I was having carburetor issues.

So, in 26 years the car has cost me less than $18,000, including the
vehicle cost, maintenance, and fuel. That includes a new paint job, and
an engine replacement. It currently has about 400,000 miles on it.

At my current rate, I could drive my old car another 26 years and still
come out less than the cost of most electric vehicles. Even if I have to
rebuild the engine and repaint the car again.

From an environmental aspect, it takes a lot more energy and polution to
manufacturer all the steel, plastics, and rubber that make up a new
vehicle. The "cash for clunkers" program years ago made no sense to me as
a lot more energy and polution would be used to build all those new cars
than the better efficiency would provide. Not to mention the energy and
waste to recycle the old vehicles.

Cars lose value so quickly I would never buy a brand new vehicle. Every
car we have ever purchased has been at least 10 years old, and we've
never paid more than $4000 for a vehicle.

Of course, I realize everyone doesn't have the desire or ability to drive
an old car (maintenance costs would be MUCH higher if you had to pay
shops to do the work). At some point age and rust, or accident damage
will force you to buy a newer vehicle. Or, you just might WANT a newer
vehicle.

To each their own, but paying $30K and up for a new car to get slightly
lower cost per mile just doesn't make sense.

Anthony Watson
www.watsondiy.com
www.mountainsoftware.com