Elio Vs Spark Ev

[evboy]

If the elio gets 60 mpg combined compared to 119 mpg for the spark, whats the better deal? Lets say the spark costs 20k after tax incentive and you drive 12k miles a year. After 3 years, what do you guys think it cost to drive them, when you count depreciation and gas savings.Elio wins in depreciation, but the spark wins in gas savings.

 

[Craig]

If an orange taste more like an apple than a grape, which is the better deal?

 

[Dustoff]

If the elio gets 60 mpg combined compared to 119 mpg for the spark, whats the better deal? Lets say the spark costs 20k after tax incentive and you drive 12k miles a year. After 3 years, what do you guys think it cost to drive them, when you count depreciation and gas savings.Elio wins in depreciation, but the spark wins in gas savings.

At 82 miles per charge I don't see the spark as a viable vehicle for anything other than city driving.
At $26,685 before tax credit (taxpayer subsidy) the EV Spark is almost 4 times the cost of the projected $6,800 of the Elio.
Replacement batteries?
No EV for me at this time, thank you.

 

[Mr Deleon]

If you consider driving any distance longer that lets say 50 miles,country vs city driving, take into account charging time vs fuel up time (gas infrastructure already exists) , then consider the many "What If" scenarios such as "what if it is snowing" or "what if the battery has not been fully charged or "what if I can not find a charging station" the the Elio surpasses the Spark hands down.

 

[Mr Deleon]

If you consider driving any distance longer that lets say 50 miles,country vs city driving, take into account charging time vs fuel up time (gas infrastructure already exists) , then consider the many "What If" scenarios such as "what if it is snowing" or "what if the battery has not been fully charged or "what if I can not find a charging station" the the Elio surpasses the Spark hands down.

Forgot to mention in the "what if its snowing" scenario, snow=cold=dead batteries! Happens every winter here "UP North". Nice people and Tow truck drivers have had to jump start many cars withe dead batteries.

 

[2.ooohhh]

If the elio gets 60 mpg combined compared to 119 mpg for the spark, whats the better deal? Lets say the spark costs 20k after tax incentive and you drive 12k miles a year. After 3 years, what do you guys think it cost to drive them, when you count depreciation and gas savings.Elio wins in depreciation, but the spark wins in gas savings.

An EV will ALWAYS win in fuel savings so long as you can drive within it's limited usable ability(dependant on battery size vs charge time vs available chargers). The only EV I've driven that truly beats an elio fuel wise is a Tesla model s but they aren't in the same sport much less the same ballpark. The 2013 Nissan leaf with quick charging is a distant second to the tesla, and other manufacturer's EV options just aren't there yet.

I looked at taking our loaner leaf on a road trip and was quickly turned off by charging availability outside the major markets. Taking the trace to Tupelo, MS has been a fun weekend jaunt in most of my cars. In the leaf it's a strategic endeavor to see if you can even make it there and back without begging to borrow a 120v outlet!
Here's the charger availability in Nashville, TN
Untitled by systemdelete, on Flickr

And for comparison Tupelo, MS (zoom level is the same in both images!)
Untitled by systemdelete, on Flickr


So will I buy an EV, sure if I want a car to drive around Nashville for cheap, but the Elio gives me range as well as affordability.

 

[Jeff Porter]

If the elio gets 60 mpg combined compared to 119 mpg for the spark, whats the better deal? Lets say the spark costs 20k after tax incentive and you drive 12k miles a year. After 3 years, what do you guys think it cost to drive them, when you count depreciation and gas savings.Elio wins in depreciation, but the spark wins in gas savings.

Very difficult for me to come to a conclusion, for many reasons. 1) Not comparing apples to apples, the Elio to the Spark... just too much different about them 2) "the better deal" could be many things to a person: purchase cost, comfort, convenience of re-fueling, maintenance costs, if you want to resell it, costs of electricity, installation of a charging unit at your home, intended use, how long can you wait to get one, etc.

 

[Folks]

If the elio gets 60 mpg combined compared to 119 mpg for the spark, whats the better deal? Lets say the spark costs 20k after tax incentive and you drive 12k miles a year. After 3 years, what do you guys think it cost to drive them, when you count depreciation and gas savings.Elio wins in depreciation, but the spark wins in gas savings.

Welcome Evboy
I've long been the advocate of electric. At one time I scratch built the lightest full axis rudder aileron and throttle RC electric airplane east of the Mississippi. (guy at Boeing had me beat in lightness). I'm the first to use the term Lithium Ion Titanate or flow batteries around here. That said, British Thermal Units per hour divided by any monetary unit (dollars) will reveal more about the how far electric really has to go to compete with Gas or Diesel. The real battle is to keep any Government including ours from dabbling in the data just to justify power grabs. "He who controls fuel controls the world." You gotta know the sleaze bags can't resist the temptation to grab power rather than represent you and I. All those advocating for windmills, solar, batteries over coal and gas are but victims of the deluge of propaganda pumped continually out of washington and its cronies. That's not to say there's no future in the alternatives but one must learn how to measure success first, and that includes how free the data is from the propaganda machine in Washington. LOL

 

[AriLea]

Forgot to mention in the "what if its snowing" scenario, snow=cold=dead batteries! Happens every winter here "UP North". Nice people and Tow truck drivers have had to jump start many cars withe dead batteries.

It's an overhead consideration for a complete EV drive. A complete system could have a warmer that keeps the system from going too cold, using some battery power to do that. Since you plug your EV in at night, that supports the heater as well.
During a winter day at work, you'd want a plugin available to keep that range up while keeping the pack just warm enough.
I think for a flow battery, or Liion, that's a very-very low temp. If I'm not mistaken lead acid are among the worst for temp issues.

 

[Jim H]

All I can say is that the electric grid is NOT free. Too often people fail to consider this cost when comparing electric vehicles to gas-powered vehicles.