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unfasten | 12 years ago

For my own curiosity I completed the gasoline end of the math above. Hopefully I didn't botch any of it. If so, please correct me:

According to Wikipedia¹ the energy of gasoline is ≈11.8 kWh/kg at a density of ≈0.74 kg/l, giving us 8.7 kWh/l. For California, using the $0.85/l price, we get $0.10/kWh (rounded from $0.09770) for gasoline. Norway, at $2.45/l, gives us $0.28/kWh.

¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline#Energy_content

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dagss|12 years ago

What this doesn't include is the efficiency of motors. Gasoline engines has an efficiency of 25-30%. Electrical cars are much more efficient (Tesla seems to quote 88% for Tesla Roadster). So while your calculation shows that you about break even, taking this into account should mean electricity is in the area of 3x cheaper in Norway (when used for powering cars).