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Ok, so I know there are a lot of us out there (myself included) who have been shopping around because of the delays related to the bronco. With the Wrangler 4xe coming out really soon, I was very seriously considering talking to a dealer about it after seeing some price quotes that others had posted on the forum. I did the rough pricing out myself for my needs and the total came to ~43,291 for the Sahara version after the federal tax credit and and a generous 10% off msrp (someone else on the forum said they were able to negotiate to this price). My 4 door BD is pricing out to just about the same price after the x plan equivalent pricing that I was able to negotiate with my dealer.
To me this made the wrangler 4xe very attractive because of the better fuel economy, HP, instant Torque, etc. However, there are obvious downsides including lower storage space, more complicated and untested platform, have to wait for the federal tax credit, etc.
So my tie breaker was going to be looking at how much I could save in fuel costs by driving the 4xe with the listed fuel economy numbers. My results are shocking to say the least, and to be honest, it doesn't seem accurate. Look over my math and correct me if I am wrong, but I am calculating that the cost to drive per mile is basically the same as a bronco. Calculating direct costs to drive between electric and gas is a little confusing and I had to make some assumptions, but here it goes. For the bronco, I had to assume a combined fuel economy of 21. Some might argue this is high, but this is the listed city fuel economy for the ranger, so lets go with that for now.
Assumptions:
Wrangler 4xe (50 MPGe, 17 Kw Hr battery, 17.2 gallon fuel tank, 400 mile driving range)
Bronco BD (21 MPG???)
Fuel Costs
Gas: 2.33 national avg
Electricity: 0.17 /kwhr (Current cost in michigan in residential neighborhoods. National average is 0.135 if you would prefer that method)
Wrangler 4xe cost/mile to drive:
Cost for Electric Fill up = (0.17*17 kwhr) = 2.89$
Cost for Gas Fill up = 2.33 * 17.2 gal = 40.08$
Cost per mile to drive = (400 mi)/ (40.08+2.89) = 0.107 $/mile
Bronco Cost/mile to drive: (2.33 $/gal ) / (21 mi/gal) = 0.111 $/mile
(The value only changes to 0.115 if you assume 20 mpg combined)
How is this possible??? The cost per mile in fuel is effectively the same for both vehicles (a difference of 0.004 $/mile). This shocked me and seemingly takes away one of the biggest benefits to driving a plug in hybrid. And for those of you saying, "well most people will drive on fully electric since their commute is less than 25 miles ". Well here are those numbers as well.
Cost to drive Wrangler 4xe purely on electric per mile:
(0.17 $/kwhr * 17 kwhr battery)/25 mi = 0.115 (in michigan)
(0.135 $/kwhr * 17 kwhr battery)/25 mi = 0.091 (national average)
So there is a marginal decrease in cost using the national average electricity cost, but it actually costs more to drive electric in Michigan. How is this possible? Is my math wrong? Someone please poke a hole in this because my mind is breaking from this. If this is true, the wrangler 4xe effectively gets no cost benefits for driving on electricity. Admittedly, electricity costs in Michigan are above the national average (0.17 vs 0.135) and a comparable tesla gets about 120 MPGe compared to the jeeps 50 MPGe, but this is still crazy to me. If this is true, it is making my decision to stay with the Bronco a little easier.
To me this made the wrangler 4xe very attractive because of the better fuel economy, HP, instant Torque, etc. However, there are obvious downsides including lower storage space, more complicated and untested platform, have to wait for the federal tax credit, etc.
So my tie breaker was going to be looking at how much I could save in fuel costs by driving the 4xe with the listed fuel economy numbers. My results are shocking to say the least, and to be honest, it doesn't seem accurate. Look over my math and correct me if I am wrong, but I am calculating that the cost to drive per mile is basically the same as a bronco. Calculating direct costs to drive between electric and gas is a little confusing and I had to make some assumptions, but here it goes. For the bronco, I had to assume a combined fuel economy of 21. Some might argue this is high, but this is the listed city fuel economy for the ranger, so lets go with that for now.
Assumptions:
Wrangler 4xe (50 MPGe, 17 Kw Hr battery, 17.2 gallon fuel tank, 400 mile driving range)
Bronco BD (21 MPG???)
Fuel Costs
Gas: 2.33 national avg
Electricity: 0.17 /kwhr (Current cost in michigan in residential neighborhoods. National average is 0.135 if you would prefer that method)
Wrangler 4xe cost/mile to drive:
Cost for Electric Fill up = (0.17*17 kwhr) = 2.89$
Cost for Gas Fill up = 2.33 * 17.2 gal = 40.08$
Cost per mile to drive = (400 mi)/ (40.08+2.89) = 0.107 $/mile
Bronco Cost/mile to drive: (2.33 $/gal ) / (21 mi/gal) = 0.111 $/mile
(The value only changes to 0.115 if you assume 20 mpg combined)
How is this possible??? The cost per mile in fuel is effectively the same for both vehicles (a difference of 0.004 $/mile). This shocked me and seemingly takes away one of the biggest benefits to driving a plug in hybrid. And for those of you saying, "well most people will drive on fully electric since their commute is less than 25 miles ". Well here are those numbers as well.
Cost to drive Wrangler 4xe purely on electric per mile:
(0.17 $/kwhr * 17 kwhr battery)/25 mi = 0.115 (in michigan)
(0.135 $/kwhr * 17 kwhr battery)/25 mi = 0.091 (national average)
So there is a marginal decrease in cost using the national average electricity cost, but it actually costs more to drive electric in Michigan. How is this possible? Is my math wrong? Someone please poke a hole in this because my mind is breaking from this. If this is true, the wrangler 4xe effectively gets no cost benefits for driving on electricity. Admittedly, electricity costs in Michigan are above the national average (0.17 vs 0.135) and a comparable tesla gets about 120 MPGe compared to the jeeps 50 MPGe, but this is still crazy to me. If this is true, it is making my decision to stay with the Bronco a little easier.
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