We know electric cars are cheaper to operate per mile than internal combustion engines, but what happens when we broaden the spectrum to walking?
It sounds absurd at first glance, but before we start burning witches and jumping to preconceived conclusions, let’s have a go at working it out properly.
There’s going to be a lot of estimating, but it’ll be fun none the less. I should also point out that I’m not going to try and swing the results in any particular direction, because I’m in favour of both walking and electric vehicles. Let’s just do it and see where the results end up.
First of all, let’s assume that we have 5 miles to either walk or drive to a particular shop on a nice sunny day with a north-east breeze of 2 knots (hey, it’s my hypothesis – I can play God with the weather if I want to).
Our two theoretical test subjects Adolf and Winston are stretching & warming up in the driveway. It’s quite a sight I assure you. Adolf is going to take his home-converted electric car to the shop, while Winston is going to walk there instead.
To make things even easier, I’ll put everything into a simple table so you can compare (and feel free to pick apart) my logic and estimations. I’ve tried to source real data where possible, and conservatively estimate everything else for both test subjects.
Now that’s a fascinating result which I certainly didn’t expect.
It appears driving an electric vehicle in this scenario works out more cost effective than walking the same route. Other issues, such as the comparative carbon footprint, the cost over long distances, and the financial cost of the time spent walking versus driving would be fascinating to work out.
Also, I’m curious at the differences in time spent and efficiency in cold weather conditions. Would Winston need twice the food/drink in winter conditions? Would Adolf need to invade Poland in order to source more energy? Oh come on, surely you saw that joke coming.
For the time being however this has proven to be a fun way to fill an hour. I’d now like to see a comparison involving electric motorcycles versus pushbikes. I’d expect the pushbike to be the overall winner – but that’s what I assumed would happen with a walking/electric car comparison.
Now I really want another electric car!
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In case you’re bored, here’s how I came up with these figures. Feel free to pick them apart at will.
Energy Used Per Hour Walking: ~330 KJ/h = 0.91 kWh
Travel Insurance: ~$196 USD / year for an American male; 120 minutes = $0.0447 USD
Car Insurance: ~$286 USD / year for a Converted EV; 8 Minutes = $0.0043 USD
Shoes: ~$90 USD / year for a quality pair; 120 minutes = $0.0205 USD
Tires: ~$400 for a set of 4 with a life of ~3 years = $133.33 / year; 8 minutes = $0.002029 USD
Registration: ~$90 USD / year; 8 minutes = 0.00136 USD
Servicing: ~$8000 USD Lithium batts every 12 years = $600 USD/year; 8 minutes = $0.0091 USD
Doctor: $50 USD / year; 120 minutes = $0.011415 USD
5:41 pm on June 17th, 2010 1
Interesting – but who says it requires eating that much (or any) extra food to walk 5 miles? The energy cost should be the extra food required to perform the exertion versus the lesser amount of food required from being sedentary sitting in a car.
I do agree that the energy cost of food probably totally swamps the energy cost of driving the car. The modern agriculture system is extremely energy intensive.
There are tradeoff’s to consider … walking provides health benefits, for example.
And what do you think of the relative energy cost of an electric bicycle? I tend to think the electric bicycle saves on energy cost because of even less food requirements.
11:00 pm on June 17th, 2010 2
All good points, however I walk 8 km (~5 miles) several times a week and I promise you, you certainly notice the difference if you do it on an empty stomach (dizziness/fatigue etc). Nourishment is absolutely required, however there are many sources/methods available to do this – sometimes at little/no cost. I just tried to be realistic with what’s in most people’s kitchens.