how much are you saving using your ebike?

wasp

wasp

10 kW
Joined
Apr 3, 2008
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i orig spent 550 canadian + extra sla 50
upgraded to limn bats and chargers 300
all in about a grand...
how much have i saved not running my jeep
300 a month(very conservitive) x 6 with sept & oct
to break this down 100/month insurence 50/week gas(lol)
still to come...2400...- 1000(spent) i'm 1400+ to the good
i will use this free cash to build a sweet ride or 2 this winter
i think this could make a good poll...
 
Batteries: $400
Bike: $250
Motor/controller: $200
Misc: $150

Total: $1,000

I don't drive anyway, so, money saved on gas: -$1,000 :?

General awesomeness: Priceless.
 
Let's see
1) I don't pay gov extortion fees
2) I don't pay gov backed Insurance company insurance Fees
3) I don't pay BIG OIL extortion fees at the pump

I do pay the nuclear industry electricity extortion fees.

I'd say quite a bit.
 
My alternative to using an ebike is pedal powering a bicycle that costs about $200 per year to maintain in daily service. I've many bicycles so the wear is spread among them. I keep receipts but haven't done an accounting in a few years.

An ebike has the potential of costing me way more in any given year.
Just the batteries, with an expected three year service life, are going to average out over $300 per year.
 
savings of not buying a second new car is around $8000 per year. I've probably spent about $4000 for all my electric scooters, ebikes and batteries. I think I'm still ahead.
 
I work 30 miles from my home, so i have to have a car. I've racked up about 270miles on my ebike. So i'd say about half a tank of gas on my car. That's only about 20 bucks. Even if i factor in the lower wear and tear on my car, I still spent so much more upgrading the bike. Yikes, all of this wouldn't be worth it if i was riding purely on the money saved factor. Hell all the ebikes stuff must have racked up about 2500 bucks. That's gas for about a year and a half.
 
Savings are hard to figure but in reality the money I've spent on my bike, batteries, motor, controller and all the other stuff is still likely less than I would have spent providing dealer service on a new car over the past three years, I know it's less than what we pay the Lexus dealer for service. The savings on fuel and insurance alone however are considerable and make the bike a realistic vehicle for local trips.

The biggest single fun saving however is the local toll bridge. I live on a barrier island and the closest bridge is a $2.00 toll for cars and motorcycles, more for multi axle vehicles. There is no toll for bicycles and the way the bike paths are designed bikes don't even have to go by the toll taker. Since one of my golf courses is on the other side of the bridge this means every time I go there or into town I escape the two dollar fee. Beating that bridge fee is great fun.

Adding to that fun is the fact that I frequently play golf with the guy that runs the company that operates the bridge, played golf with him today as a matter of fact. We won (our team) fifteen dollars today and I was able to tell him the fifteen dollars plus the ten I saved in bridge fees this week made for a good day. It's a small victory but at my age I cherish all victories, large and small.

I've driven cars, trucks, fire trucks, ambulances, limousines and heavy equipment but none have provided the grin that an EV does. That has value all by itself.
Mike
 
Generally and specifically:

We had a total of 5 driving age people in my house this last summer. I refused to buy more cars, we "got by" on 3 cars and an eBike. We are down to 4 drivers and 3 cars and an eBike. I am still avoiding buying one car per driver which is the standard in my neighborhood, so it is saving me a car payment, insurance, etc. I barely drive my car anymore, so that is a few thousand miles a year of eBike costs vs. car costs.

Putting a number on it: The feds let you deduct 48.5 cents per mile for vehicle use. That is meant to be an all encompassing number including gas, insurance, maintenance, depreciation. But not taxes, those you deduct separately. That number is always low in real life. Lets round to 50 cents to include taxes and figure the Feds are cheap, which they are. People never really figure the expense of a car this way, but it is accurate. Your car was not free to purchase and ongoing costs are high. A 20 mile round trip to run a few errands costs 10 bucks. So if I figure I drive 5000 miles a year on my eBike and not on my car. About 100 miles a week, 15 miles a day. Sounds right. So my car costs $2500 a year to drive that way.

For an ebike? My 2 big lifepo4 batteries cost $2400. A charge gets me 60 miles give or take. 3000 cycles x 60 miles is 180,000 miles, so batteries cost 1.3 cents per mile. Charging 1.5kWh might take 2kWh of current, rates here are average around 13.5 cents per kWh, so a full charge takes 27 cents. Figure the same 60 miles on that charge and you get .45 cents per mile. I do pay insurance and registration. $18 registration one time fee for the life of the vehicle, and $20 a month insurance. Lets figure the bike cost $1000 and I can get 5 years use of it. But there are wear items like brake pads and tires and such. Lets figure those cost me $100 a year. That would be $1000+$500+$1200+$18 or $2718. During that time I would get 5000 x 5 miles or 25,000 miles, costing about 10.9 cents per mile. So total costs per mile are 1.3 + .45 + 10.9 or 14.75 cents, lets call it 12.7 cents per mile. At 5000 miles that comes to $635.

The difference between $2500 and $635 is $1865 per year. Since everything is done per mile, you can figure savings per mile and scale with the amount of miles driven. You save 50-13 cents or 37 cents per mile. To put it another way, the eBike costs about 1/4 as much to operate as a car.

If you use a bike that does not require license or insurance and costs less to operate the savings are higher. Lets say the bike cost $800, took $80 a year to maintain, and had not registration or insurance. That would be $800+$400 or $1200 for 25, 000 miles, or 4.8 cents per mile, a total of only 6.6 cents per mile with battery and charging costs, or $330 per year vs $2500 a difference of $2170 a year savings.
 
I spent about $80/month in gasoline, $110 for insurance, $50 in maintenance and $100 in car payments. That comes to about 340 cash-flow-out/month or probably $400 with depreciation included. Only about 300 of that are "irrecoverable expenses"(the principal part of a car loan payment can be partially recovered at resell time, which I did.). Since my bike has cost me somewhere around 1000 bucks, whereas my foray into "electric bicycles" probably cost me closer to 1200, and my monthly expense is probably 40/month with bus-trips/miscellaneous, and I started 3 months ago... I'm still "in the hole", but I should be out of it within a month or two.

Itemized expenses

$15-First bicycle
$50-Materials to build back rack
$30-various mirrors that eventually busted
$40-rear rack for the suspension walmart bike
$50-Wires, connectors, crimper, etc.
$20-multimeter
$40-Cheap soldering equipment
$30-Current rear rack
$60-Maxxis Hookworm Tires
$40-inner tubes, mr.Tuffy's, slime sealant
$340-Diamond-back response bike
$100-front disc brake conversion
$50- front basket kit
$10- bike Bell that I apparently lost
$130 - Controller
$300 - 407 Motor wheel
$120 - Cycle Analyst
$15 - Thumb Throttle
$370($410 projected) - LiFePo4 48V 10AH
$120 - SLA batteries 48V 7 AH(actual in practice, 12AH nominal)
$30 - Helmets that I eventually replaced
$90 - Bicycle U Locks
$20 - Security cables
$15 - Miscellaneous to build a front light and a rear-light
---------------------------------------------------------------------
:shock: $2085

Wow....That's sobering. Let's push back that "getting out of the hole" date to *counts out 7 months* January, 2009. :lol:

The thing is is that my "current ride" only contains... let's see...100+340+14+20+90+30+370+565+100.. 1629 dollars of that. That's still more than I expected.

I should probably take off about 400 dollars off that since my inevitable transition to bicycles would've cost around that much. So that means the "electric part", and associated expenses, is about $1200 for the current bicycle or $1600-1700 for the total foray into electric bicycles.

Further edit: I forgot to include $100 for various bike services and miscellaneous.
 
I've not counted but It's pretty obvious that savings = no.
Life would suck if I were out to save money all the time.


Edit: Actually I've gotten rid of the car I had almost as soon as I realized bikes work well in winter, 6-7 years ago? But didn't have any assist back then. And my recent experience of 4 months no cycling made me get fat, so the idea of saving on food by using a motor instead of muscular energy is lost on me. So, money savings from electric bike are negative.
 
Like the politicians, you can figure it many ways. One way for me is...

$2000 for all ebike related purchases.
$15,000 for collarbone surgery.... Hmm, I'll break even in a few decades.

But I preferr something more like this. All the stuff that broke or is otherwise not in service goes into the entertainment budget. Leaving...

$500 actual out of pocket, copays for surgery
$800 actual cost of ebike that is in service. So call it $1200.

The ebike's estimated cost per mile is 10 cents a mile and I ride 30 miles a day. so
The car costs 35 cents a mile, an old used car so a little cheaper, and when driving the mileage is more like 50 miles a day.
So far I have 1400 miles on the ebike which if driving would have been more like 1800 miles.

So the car would have cost $630 to drive this summer and the ebike cost $140 giving a savings so far, of $490. So i'll break even around christmas.

BUT, for the first time in my life, I went into Autozone for parts not one time since May, and honestly I loathe working on the car. I like working on bikes, but rolling underneath to do a cv joint or pulling an engine like last summer is like going to prison for me. How do you put a price on that? I figure if you go twice as long to need to do this stuff, or spend on gas and maintenance, its gotta be worth at least another 35 cents a mile since you are deferring having to pay that untill a year later or more.

By that way of thinking of it, I have just broken even this month. And will ride nearly free for quite awhile on a Ping battery and a motor that should last at least another year or two. And how do you put a price on the joy of breezing by the Sams club gas pumps every day instead of pulling in and spending 70 bucks twice a week? What is the dollar value of now that I ride 30 miles a day, and still peadle hard all the way my cardiac and respiratory health is way improved. I'm getting about 100 minuites of aerobic exercise 4 days a week now. Even if you look at it as a net loss, WHO CARES? It has been worth every penny.
 
I save $2 every time I go to town and back. Generally that is 5 times a week, but lately I have been making trips more often since it is so stinking cheap to charge. Heck, $40 a month is nothing to sniff at.


I think dirtdad is either an accountant or just well read on current financial theories. Factoring in estimated life of battery and TOTAL cost of the bike is really the way to do this, basically depreciating the costs over the expected mileage of the vehicle. You could even figure out your payback period with expected daily or weekly mileage.


For me, the roughly .50 per mile saved isn't worth as much as getting back on my bike for simple transportation and feeling the wind on my face. With a few more volts on my motor I won't even spend more time getting to town and back. Same speed AND cheaper to boot!
 
I like cold wind in my face too. Ever go riding on a snowy night when there is snow on the ground and clouds in the sky? The city lights bounce back and forth between the layers and light up everything.
 
Hah. No. Snowy night = Roadkill here.

But I'm basing that off my old speeds when I was pedaling at 12-15 mph w/o an electric motor. It seems like it might be more practical with an electric and, yes, that does sound enjoyably tranquil. I remember similar experiences when I threw the newspaper at 4:00 a.m. in the morning when nothing was moving and no one was around. The newspaper folding and mushing through the snow kind of detracted from the enjoyment, but that particular aesthetic you mention was nice.
 
With proper head attire, goggles, possibly a face warmer, and some thick gloves it ain't so bad. I plan to use mine as much as possible. The only thing I don't like is road ash and salt.
 
Money saved last two years not driving to work $2,522—4,108 +

Number one factor for me is parking fees. Most People I work with pay $ 54 per week to park at our garage, and others pay less to park off site and take free shuttle bus. All drivers have to pay monthly even when they are out sick or on vacation it comes out of their checks every month whether they use it or not.

Park at garage per year - 2,808.00
Park at OFFSITE per year - 1,200

I have been working there over 2 years and ride my Ebike or bike every day. I rarely take the bus perhaps 3-4 X per year.

Money saved not Parking at garage for 2 years - 5,616
Money saved not Parking at OFFSITE for 2 years - 2,400

Money saved over two years 2,400---5,616!!!!

NOW my partner and I got rid of a second car that we never used anyway
Saving 750 per year in insurance. Plus Save minimum $200 in gas not driving also

Now minimum saved 4, 300 —7,516 ( over two years) ( minus cost of Ebike, minus cost of electricity )

Since I live in the city we do pay a premium for parking and even taking the train cost much more than Ebiking. Train $2 or 4 $ RT, electricity = 10-15 cents. I save money on Every trip. I can not calculate unless I keep track but I have saved money there also.

Example: I was lucky enough to go to Fenway 5 times this year. My friends paid 30-45 dollar each time to park! We biked or Ebiked – another 150- 225 dollars saved. (Plus drinking + Ebike = FUN especially on the bike path that are devoid of PEDS and squirrels) :twisted: :twisted:

Hard to calculate Ebike cost as it becomes a hobby, :roll: as you run into battery and controller issues, then you want the latest ,fastest, lightest Batts, I spent more than original cost on my Ebike perhaps even $600 - 700 a year in upgrades etc. But the motor and wheel and are still the same over last 5 years. Here is original cost

Used BIKE $150 , BRAKE pads 20$, MOTOR KIT aprox 400 FROM ( 5 YEARS AGO) Wheel, spokes, tire = 150? LATEST BATTERY PING – 450, LIGHTS 25$ ebike $ 1195. - ( divided by 5 years, add 50 electricity and $600 for maintenance upgrades batts ) 889 per year = 1778 for two years . I think that is a fair estimate.
 
Been commuting to work on my ebike for just over a year now.

So far expenses for my current commuter are as follows:
Batteries - 2000 (a123's)
Bike + mods 900
Controllers 1000
Motors 1500
~ about 5400, probably closer to six or seven if I really add it up. Right now I have two spare controllers and two spare motors on hand just in case...

The first six months were the worst in terms of blowing stuff up and trying to figure out what my max volts were that wouldn't cause damage to the motor & controller.

Possibly the worst case scenario on this thread in terms of expenditures, for savings though, I think I'm about even:
Per day:
parking: 25
Gas 5
* 200 = 6k

So I guess if I don't break anything, I'm starting to make money :D
 
Ive spent about $4000 total in ebikes - however i've got two motors and two controllers and two throttles. I'm going to build up a second bike, and because it is my primary form of transport i need to ensure i have spares.

I used to spend $400 a month in petrol - now i spend $0.

that works out fairly nicely ! 10 months of riding ... and its fully paid for itself :)

i stopped working off distance - and started on lifestyle instead.
 
well I traded my car for my bike, so my only costs is insurance + fuel vs electicity.

(160km daily commute when I was driving)
$130 ins
$120 fuel
+ 4hrs a day

(3.2km daily commute now, I moved)
$0 electricity is free on campus
+ 8min a day

so my time I will charge about $25/hr
and work about 4days a week.
therefor by car it was costing me $1850/month(time included)
my bike $53/month (that covers the cost of my time to of riding the bike, I would do it for free, but I need to be fair).

now if we were to say I drove from my house to work. (about 6km due to cul-de-sac roads)
$ 10 bucks in Gas + insurance + time ~= $193/month.
 
Not including wear & tear on the car (which has been relegated to school duties, major shopping & the about a week of driving a year - when the weather is really bad < 5000km per year for the whole family) - I'm saving $25.12 AUS a day on fuel/tolls.

The real saving is that I am nearly as fit as I was 20 years ago so hopefully this will mean longer healthier life :p with less medical bills in the long run...short of getting nailed by a cage that is :wink:
 
Not saving anything. It costs me more than driving.

But damn, its fun! :twisted:

Honestly, its a toy. More fun than a bike, or a motorcycle. its my hobby. I think of it the same way I might think of a jetski, or a snow mobile. Fun and usefull. it runs Lipo, so it costs me about $2 every 20 miles in terms of wear and tear on the batteries and the rest of the bike. it also wasn't cheap to build, and still needs refinements. It might break even in 15,000 miles, or there about, and start saving me money after that. But I'd rather rust keep riding it for fun, and not worry anything else.
 
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