How much will it cost me to ‘fill’ up my EV battery?
As a rule of thumb: Driving an EV will be around 50% cheaper than driving a gasoline car.
We are all used to fuel up the gastank at the gasstation. Everyone knows that they have to get fuel at a certain interval (once a week for example) and what it will cost on average to get a full gastank. So it is hard to imagine what Electric Driving does to your wallet. It is an unfamiliar territory. So, … let’s find out.
The easiest way to compare the costs is to calculate the ‘price per 100 kilometer‘.
Price per 100 Kilometer
A small car will use less fuel than a 8 cylinder pickup truck, so we take a medium sized car to get some average numbers.
For this article we calculate with averages, using gasoline and Aqualectra prices as of April 2024.
- A mid-sized Gasoline Car / 100 kilometer will cost you Naf 27,24 on fuel.
- A mid-sized Electric Car / 100 kilometer will cost you Naf 13,74 on electricity.
What you will save
On average, the Electric Car will be 57,6% cheaper to drive than a comparable gasoline car.
If you drive 20.000km per year in a mid-sized Electric Car, you will save:
- Naf 261,45 per month!
- Naf 3137,42 per year!
Getting a car loan?
If you are on the market to buy a new car, you could consider using the amount that you save by driving an electric car, to get a higher car-loan. With the higher car-loan you will be able to buy the more expensive Electric Car which is comparable (if not better) to the Gasoline model.
- you will be a ‘green’ driver with consideration of the environment.
- your service costs for an EV will be much less throughout its entire lifespan.
- your driving experience will be enhanced. (No noise pollution, great acceleration.)
- after the loan is paid off, you will have a more valuable car, as the car was more expensive when you bought it.
- after the loan is paid off, you will really start saving money, as a gasonline car will still be burning expensive fuel, and an EV will use cheap electricity.
In everyday life
People are used to what the costs are when they are at the gasstation. It is different when charging an Electric Car.
With an Electric Car you don’t have to go to the gasstation to fill up your ‘tank’ when it’s empty. Rather, you put it on the charger either at home, at work or at one of the public chargers when you are going around the island. Go to the beach, and plugin for extra mileage. It takes you about 3 seconds to plug-in, and 3 seconds to unplug. It is really that easy!
We will give you some numbers, but bear in mind these numbers are all indicative estimates. Remember; the best way to compare the costs is by looking at the above-mentioned method; costs per 100 kilometer.
Electric car – energy costs
We calculate with an average of 20.000 km per year, which is 55 km each day.
This will cost you Naf 7,00 each day if you charge on a daily basis.
However, you don’t need to recharge daily! Please read our article about “Taking care of your battery“.
If your battery needs a full charge because you drove a lot, or you did not recharge on a daily basis, then you might need more electricity to charge the car.
In this case, a ‘full tank’ will cost you Naf 31,00 to charge from 20% to 80%.
If you have solar panels…
Of course, these numbers will be completely different if you have solar panels installed!
For each kWh you return to Aqualectra using your solar panels, you get Naf 0,25 from Aqualectra.
If you are charging in daylight (the solar panels produce electricity), each kWh that goes into your EV while charging, will not be paid to you by Aqualectra. So effectively, it will cost you Naf 0,25 per kWh when you charge in daylight. When it is dark, the solar panels will not produce power, so you have to pay the normal Aqualectra tariff while charging at night.
Calculating with Naf 0,25 the numbers will be:
- A mid-sized Electric Car, charging using on-grid solar panels / 100 kilometer will cost you Naf 4,00
- You will not get the Naf 0,25 from Aqualectra, so it will cost you Naf 2,25 each day.
- A ‘full tank’ will cost you Naf 10,00.
If you have an off-grid solar system (the solor panels are not connected to Aqualectra), then of course, charging your EV won’t cost you a thing!
We hope this article will clarify how much it will cost to ‘fuel/charge up’ your Electric Car.
And our tip: On the island of Curacao there are a lot of public chargers. Use them, because at this time, charging is free at those chargers.
Disclaimer:
All calculations are based on ‘averages’ such as a mid-sized car and 20.000km per year. Your specific make and model will affect the calculations. We have used the tariffs as of April 2024. We have not included our calculations in this article as to enhance readability.