Petrol prices

[Haku]

When playing pool in the evening there was a tv on in the background with the news, couldn't hear much because of the 'dance' music filling the building but did catch a few words along the line of £1.50/litre by the end of the year ?

Then cycling home I heard a loud whistle, a friend calling me from the 24hour garage so I stopped to say high and they complained about the petrol prices, "look at that" so I looked up at the sign and actually paid attention to the numbers this time, £1.10/litre diesel & £1.20/litre unleaded...f...!! the last time I'd actually looked at petrol prices was when it was in the news last year how unleaded getting to £1/litre was a bit of a milestone.


What is the average cost of recharging an ebike battery & average distance you can get on a full charge? would be nice to have the average pence per mile of an ebike so I can annoy my car driving friends whenever they complain about petrol prices

 

[flecc]

10 pence for a charge that carries you 20 miles is fairly typical, so around half a penny a mile.

14 pence a mile is a realistic average for petrol only cost on cars now, representing a bit over 35 mpg. That typically makes the car 28 times the price on fuel alone.

But of course that's cheating since it ignores our huge consumable extra cost, the battery. That can be 30,000 pence for two years these days, with 500 charges at say 20 miles per charge. That adds 3 pence per mile, bringing the bike up to 3.5 pence per mile, leaving the 14 pence of the average car 4 times as expensive on the petrol cost alone.
.

 

[Haku]

Great, some figures to work with.

What if you throw in car tax/insurance/mot into the mix? (and if you're feeling particularly nasty, general car repairs & a breakdown recovery service)

Hmm, if I were to replace my lithium-ion after 500 charges that would be less than 2 years, I'm planning on running it till it gets to about half the capacity it is now (or until it gets to the point where I have to carry the charger everywhere and I get fed up of that) as that's about what the loan battery was giving me by the time I manged to get my new replacement one. Hopefully I can get my battery to last me until the end of 2010 or longer.

I recently saw some fuel saving tips from an American who started out with 17 mpg and managed to get it up to 35 mpg, and the car they had didn't look like a high performance sports car either!

 

[lectureral]

Well I just sold my car after 4 years - admittedly not the most economic model in town (RX8) - I kept a detailed costing from new and it came to 70p per mile including all costs (the biggest hit being depreciation at about 45p per mile).

 

[Erik]

We should really also use the same fuel saving tips on our E-bikes.

Accelerate rather quickly to the speed you want to go, and keep that speed steady.

Try to keep in sync with the green lights and if you cant, then let the speed roll off towards the red lights.

Braking is waste of energy

Go slow uphill and fast downhill

etc.

 

[Tiberius]

We should really also use the same fuel saving tips on our E-bikes.

Braking is waste of energy

Go slow uphill and fast downhill

etc.

Hi Erik,

You are quite right on the braking - whatever type of vehicle. But the slow uphill isn't always right on an e-bike. One of the peculiarities of electric motors is that they not efficient at slow speeds. With a drive through gears model, yes, changing down and going slow works ok, but with a hub motor, its best to keep the speed up.

Of course, on an e-bike, the reason for being efficient is not so much cost, but extending the range.

Nick

 

[sabretache]

I've just been through a similar pricing / dump the first (of two) cars excercise too. Absolutely horrifying when you look at all the numbers. In my case I got a second-hand diesel Range Rover 5 years ago (main justification to tow horse boxes). Towing not required any more and wife's little KA pefecly adequate for our now modest motoring needs. Anyway, the five year figures damn near gave me a heart attack when I sat down and did them properly.

Without setting it out in all its gory detail the total 5 year cost of operation and ownership was just shy of £50,000 !!! - That's £10,000 per annum and an average cost per mile of about 66p (44p of that being depreciation). Needless to say I've sold the bloody thing.

Also, further to my doom-and-gloom posts to the 'Green not the way....' thread, those with an interest in the underlying dynamics of petrol price increases (and frankly, considering the epoch-defining changes that 'peak-oil/energy imply, that really ought to be everyone), Here is a link to a solid mainstream analysis of the issues:

The Oil Crunch Ahead

 

[flecc]

Hi Erik,

You are quite right on the braking - whatever type of vehicle. But the slow uphill isn't always right on an e-bike. One of the peculiarities of electric motors is that they not efficient at slow speeds. With a drive through gears model, yes, changing down and going slow works ok, but with a hub motor, its best to keep the speed up.

Certainly true on most of the hub motor bikes, but Erik's Panasonic powered drive through the gears unit is at it's most efficient and economical when lower speeds are chosen for hill climbing, the drop in power required reflected directly in the consumption drop.
.

 

[Tiberius]

Sorry, Erik,

Didn't realise which type of bike you rode, but I did try to cover both types in my post.

Nick

 

[Erik]

Sorry, Erik,

Didn't realise which type of bike you rode, but I did try to cover both types in my post.

Nick

No offense taken, it was my mistake if any.

 

[flecc]

Sorry, Erik,

Didn't realise which type of bike you rode, but I did try to cover both types in my post.

Nick

Of the three it's me who should apologise Nick and Erik, since my quick scan of Nick's post missed that he had covered the drive through gears situation.

Sorry, should've gone to Specsavers.
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