4,000 on the cheap

4,000 miles at a cost way less than gasoline....are these cars some of the best kept secrets in transportation...yes.

I'm not a scientist but I do know enough to understand when I'm saving money, let's look at what I'm getting at.

I just reached 4,000 miles in my ActiveE, all on electricity of course.  My previous car got a real world average MPG of 22.  That is what I got by simply dividing the gallons I took when filling up into the miles driven each time I filled the tank.  Gasoline cost around $3.70 per gallon by me - cheap for gas.  So I divide 22MPG into 4,000 and I get 181.9 gallons which I multiply by $3.70 and get $673.03 - that is pretty much what it cost me in gas to drive 4,000 miles in my previous car and this is in about 75 days.

Now lets look at the ActiveE - the average cost to go 100 miles in an EV is around $5 in electricity, but I'm Northeast and we get hammered with our rates so I'll bump that to $7 of electricity to go 100 miles.  Again I do the simple math of dividing 100 by 4000 and I get 40 and then multiply that by $7 = $280.

Lets see, gas powered = $673 and electric powered = $280.   My insurance is the same and leasing the ActiveE is about the same as the other cars I lease but the EV adds a few more unseen cost savings...no tune-ups.  That's right, none.  Yes, BMW covers maintenance anyway but that runs out after some time and BMW might remove that one day, Mercedes did.  We all know how much regular maintenance can cost....so the ActiveE, as luxury cars go, is pretty reasonable for me.  I'm not one to pay attention to what a car costs me because I focus on the 'fun' a car brings me.  The ActiveE brings me 3 benefits, it is fun, it is economical and it is clean.

Lastly, I'm seriously enjoying the car and so is my family.